Cheese in the News

ADVISORY/Statewide Campaign to Educate Consumers About Health Risks of Illegally Produced Cheese

Business Wire

What:

The California Milk Advisory Board, the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Department of Health Services will launch a multi-faceted public awareness campaign to educate consumers about the potential health risks associated with consumption of cheese made by unlicensed manufacturers.

Where:

State Capitol, Governor's Press Conference Room - No. 1190 Sacramento, Calif.

When:

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 1998
1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Why:

To protect the health of California consumers, a comprehensive Spanish-language education program has been developed to inform the public about the dangers of purchasing cheese from unlicensed vendors. Manufacture of unlicensed cheese is a statewide problem, which resulted in a Salmonella outbreak that sickened 157 individuals in three Bay Area counties in April 1997.

Who:

• Secretary Ann Veneman, California Department of Food and Agriculture
• Kimberly Belshe, Director, Department of Health Services
• Adri Boudewyn, Chief Executive Officer, California Milk Advisory Board

Visuals:

Educational materials, public service announcements and Mexican-style cheese produced by licensed manufacturers.

Contact:

• CDFA
  Kevin Herglotz, 916/654-0462
• CMAB
  Nancy Fletcher, 650/871-6459
• CDHS
  Ken August, 916/657-3064

SOURCE: Company Press Release
Friday February 20, 6:06 pm Eastern Time

State may soon honor cheese with official status

MADISON, Wis. (Reuters) - Wisconsin may soon have an official state food -- and no surprise, it's cheese.

Legislation approved last week by the Wisconsin Assembly, the lower house of the state legislature, would confer the title on one of the state's most famous products and have it join the polka as the official state dance and the honeybee as the official state insect.

The state Senate will now take up the matter, perhaps without the debate in the other chamber that was almost as time consuming and messy as cheese-making.

The bill, sponsored by state representative Bob Zukowski, began life as a proposal to make Colby the official state cheese. The town of Colby, that cheese's birthplace, is in Zukowski's district.

But other lawmakers argued Colby shouldn't be made a slice above other Wisconsin-made cheeses -- cheddar, brick and Swiss to name a few. The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association agreed. "It's insulting to say that Colby is the best. It's insulting to all other cheese-makers," argued representative Marlin Schneider. "This is the dumbest bill of the session!"

A compromise was worked out to make cheese in general the official food of the state that produces more than any other.

But all types of cheese will be honored, one at a time, highlighted as representative of the state food in a section of the Blue Book, the official guide to state government, that is published every two years.

Colby would be first in line.

"I settled for it, but I'm not really happy," said Zukowski.

SOURCE: Reuters
Monday February 9 11:09 AM EST

Cheese Scores Big at Super Bowl XXXII

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Denver leads Super Bowl XXXII at half- time by a score of 17 to 14, yet the high scorer of the game could be cheese, a veteran Super Bowl All-Star. Thanks to the insurgent efforts of 50 avid cheese followers and 30,000 football fans who are holding signs or wearing bumper stickers, Qualcomm Park is filled with ``Behold the power of Cheese(TM)'' messages.

The signs are not only visible to the 71,000 fans present in the stadium, but they have also served as backdrop for network game footage that has reached an estimated 135 million Super Bowl viewers around the world. While Super Bowl marketers can spend in the neighborhood of $2 million (production, media, etc.) to capitalize on Super Bowl frenzy, the hand-to-hand cheese effort by Rosemont, IL-based American Dairy Association cost a tiny fraction of that amount.

A team of cheese enthusiasts distributed the 25,000 green and gold signs to football fans as they entered the stadium. And all fans sporting ``cheese heads'' (approximately 5,000) were given bumper stickers bearing the slogan.

The idea was conceived after much huddling between the American Dairy Association and its Chicago-based advertising agency Leo Burnett U.S.A. The signs will continue to appear in the second half of today's game further reinforcing the new national ad campaign for cheese, which officially launches Feb. 23.

Brett Favre, who is rumored to be a cheese fan, was unavailable for comment.

SOURCE: Leo Burnett
Sunday January 25, 8:13 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release