Northern Irish Dale Farm major success at International Cheese Awards

Dale Farm, Northern Ireland's biggest dairy processor, gained a string of major awards at the recent International Cheese Awards held as part of the industry leading Nantwich Agricultural Show in Cheshire.

The annual awards is the biggest and best cheese show in the world. It celebrated its 120th year with a whole new set of records.

Dale Farm, Northern Ireland's biggest farmers' dairy co-operative, gained top awards for its cheddar and soft cheese processing operations in the region and also for yogurt produced by its GB operation. Dale Farm GB has processing units in Scotland and in Cumbria.

Dale Farm in Northern Ireland gained the following awards:

Gold for Sliced Cheddar Cheese

Silver for its Mild Cheddar

Silver for Goat's Milk Cheese under the Fivemiletown brand

Bronze for its Cheese with Savoury Additives, also Fivemiletown

Bronze for Cheese without Rind

Bronze for Cheese with 100% Goat's Milk, Fivemiletown branded

Dale Farm GB gained these awards:

Clawson Trophy for Best Yogurt on Show

Carton of Natural Yogurt - Gold, Silver and Very Highly Commended

Carton of Flavoured Yogurt, cow's milk - Gold, Silver and Bronze

Group of Four Yogurts - Gold and Silver

Carton of Cottage Cheese Plain - Gold, Silver and Bronze

Carton of Cottage Cheese with Additives - Gold, Silver and Bronze

Overwhelming support and interest from the dairy community meant that the awards smashed a previous high of 5,000 entries with an incredible total of 5,685 (up 13.5% from 2016) from over 50 different countries, including the UK, Europe, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

In addition, the two-day agricultural show, among the biggest and best in Great Britain, attracted dairy exhibitors from over 30 countries.

Over 250 expert judges tasted and tested all the entries.