For the Antigo Times

Wisconsin continued its winning streak by taking home 88 awards for its cheese and dairy products at the recent World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest, more than any other state. Wisconsin’s award total equals about 40 percent of the total awards given at the contest. Wisconsin also won 59 cheese-specific awards, taking home 74 percent of the total cheese awards.

Cleveland, Wisconsin-based Saxon Cheese, LLC took home the Grand Champion Cheese & Butter award for its Snowfields™, an aged butterkäse style cheese.

Wisconsin swept 15 of the 73 total categories including Sharp Cheddar; Aged Cheddar; Brick, Muenster; String Cheese; Smoked Flavored Natural Cheeses; Cold Pack Cheese, Cheese Spread; Semi-Soft Cheese; Hard Cheeses; Flavored Cream Cheese and others.

Six Wisconsin companies also won five or more total awards individually: AMPI with seven; Lactalis USA with six; and Foremost Farms, Kwik Trip, Inc., Mill Creek Cheese and Saputo Specialty Cheese with five each.

All first-place winners of the contest will be auctioned off on October 4, 2016 during the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. A portion of the proceeds from the contest auction will be used to fund scholarships for students pursuing careers in the dairy industry.

This is the third time this year that Wisconsin cheese has won national and international awards. Earlier this year Emmi Roth USA took home top prize at the World Championship Cheese Contest for its Grand Cru Surchoix, and in July master cheesemaker Chris Roelli and his Little Mountain won best of show at the American Cheese Society Awards.

For a complete listing of Wisconsin’s awards, visit EatWisconsinCheese.com. For hi-res photos, contact Jena Williamson,jwilliamson@stephanbrady.com. For additional information and questions, contact Abby Despins at WMMB, adespins@wmmb.org, (608) 203-7262.