Blessed are Irish cheesemakers at the International Cheese & Dairy Awards

Carbery Cheese graders Michael Cahill and Seamus Corkery in action. The West Cork-based international cheese and ingredients producer received six gold awards for their Cracker mature white, lactose-free cheddar, extra mature white cheddar, vintage cheddar, and Cheese Extra. The west Cork company won three Silver Awards for their mature cheddar, vintage cheddar, and cheese extra.

Glanbia Ireland and Dairygold Food Ingredients (UK) were among the major trophy winners at last week's International Cheese & Dairy Awards in the UK, the largest cheese show in the world.

The ICDA is the world’s biggest platform to champion world-class producers of cheese and dairy products attracting over 5,500 entries every year.  The awards were part of Love Cheese Live, one of the UK's largest cheese, food and drink festivals, which took place at the Staffordshire County Show Grounds.

Glanbia Ireland scooped the Kerrygold Trophy for the best Irish cheddar, along with the trophy for the best overseas cheddar. While the award for the champion convenience cheese in the show went to Dairygold Food Ingredients (UK) Ltd, the UK-based food and beverage subsidiary of Dairygold Co-op.

The UK's Belton Cheese was the manufacturing exhibitor winning the highest number of points overall. Other Irish companies featured strongly in the nearly 600 separate classes judged, which attracted more than 5,500 entries from across the world.

The West Cork-based international cheese and ingredients producer, Carbery Group, received six gold awards for their Cracker mature white, lactose-free cheddar, extra mature white cheddar, vintage cheddar, and Cheese Extra. The west Cork company won three Silver Awards for their mature cheddar, vintage cheddar, and cheese extra.

There was a bronze award for Carbery's mature cheddar and a very highly commended award for their red cheddar with chilli. Last year, Carbery produced more than 64,000 tonnes of cheese in its factory at Balineen, which was the site of a recent €80m expansion to add a third cheese line. Their cheese is sold in more than 50 countries. 

Commenting on their wins, Seamus Corkery, cheese-grader at Carbery, said: “To achieve these accolades, especially while the whole team worked to also manage a huge expansion project across the Ballineen site, is testament to the commitment and dedication that our team have shown across the last few years.” 

The island of Ireland cheddar class resulted in gold and silver awards for Glanbia Ireland, with the bronze award to Dale Farm. Carbery's gold for non-UK vintage cheddar (exceeding 18 months) was ahead of silver and bronze for Ornua.

The class for non-UK mild cheddar was an all-Irish affair, with gold and bronze awards to Ornua and silver to Glanbia Ireland. Glanbia Ireland won gold and silver for non-UK medium cheddar.

All the awards for non-UK mature cheddar also went to Ireland, gold to Carbery, silver to Dairygold, and bronze to Ornua. Ornua (gold and silver) and Glanbia (bronze) shared the awards for non-UK extra mature cheddar.

Gold, silver, and bronze went to Ornua in the non-UK vegetarian cheddar class. The half fat cheese class (under 17%) international class was also dominated by Ornua, with the gold and silver awards. Ornua won gold and bronze for non-UK mild cheddar.

Dairygold won gold and silver for non-UK sliced cheese, and the same awards in the international pizza cheese class, plus silver for non-UK grated cheese. Dairygold's American Style Soft Cheese was a silver winner in a class for soft, semi-soft or cream cheese, In the international classes, there was a bronze award for Glanbia's mature cheddar, and a silver win for Ornua's vintage cheddar (exceeding 18 months).

Ballylisk Dairies of Co Armagh won a bronze award for its Triple Creme cheese in the UK and Ireland other artisan cheeses class, and silver for its smoked triple creme.

The Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers were also among the winners, taking a bronze award for speciality non-UK organic cheese, and bronze in the international vegetarian blue cheese class.

Dale Farm took the gold award for Irish cheese, any type or variety, ahead of silver for Carbery and bronze for Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers. However, the Cashel firm made up for it by picking up gold in the international blue cheese class.

In the retail section, Musgrave Retail Partners won gold in three classes, for Comte AOC, other semi soft cheese, and carton of drinking yoghurt (for SuperValu Kefir Mango).

Irish exhibitors also did well in the non-cheese competitions. There were gold medals for Dairygold's vegan cream cheese and dessert cheesecake, and bronze for their crème fraiche.