Blog
Certification, education, advocacy, events, industry news and the members behind them — written by the Federation, for the people who make, age, sell and buy the cheese.
The 25 percent line on imported wheels
A new federal tariff on a long list of European cheeses lands in three weeks, and members whose cases lean on gouda, gruyère, or Stilton are already doing…
Read postFour months until the small-producer deadline
Very small operations get until late January to comply with the federal preventive-controls rule, and members who assumed they were exempt outright are finding out otherwise.
Read postWhat fall does to your cave, whether you planned for it or not
Outdoor temperature and humidity swing hardest in September and October, and a maturation room that ran itself all summer will suddenly need attention again.
Read postThe deadline behind the two-dollar block
Block cheese has held above two dollars a pound for most of the month, and the federal margin coverage window that was supposed to close last week now…
Read postThe distributor rep who still shows up to committee calls
A regional sales director spends his days moving other people's cheese, not making it — and he's stayed on federation committee calls for years, for reasons that have…
Read postThe two scorecards a judge learns to read
Competition Judge Accreditation asks members to score a cheese two different ways in the same sitting — once for what's wrong with it, once for what's right —…
Read postWhat 'aged' actually has to mean on the label
Federal standards fix the name on a lot of cheese labels, but words like 'aged,' 'farmstead,' and 'raw milk' aren't pinned down the same way — and members…
Read postThe 60-day line, and who's asking to move it
The federal rule letting raw-milk cheese cross state lines only after 60 days of aging hasn't moved in decades. Members are split on whether it should.
Read postThe plan behind the plan: what the HACCP credential actually covers
Members keep asking whether the Food Safety & HACCP Certificate duplicates their existing food safety plan. It doesn't — here's what it adds.
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