Carbery Group grinning over milking it at cheese awards

CARBERY Group in Ballineen has once again cleaned up at the world-renowned Nantwich International Cheese Awards, taking home 15 accolades.

Carbery took home three golds for its Dubliner vintage ploughman slices, its medium cheddar and half fat cheese.

They also got six silvers for Carbery cracker mature white cheddar, carbery cracked black pepper, lactose free and smokehouse variants; and its half fat and italian style cheese.

They got bronze for its red cheddar with chillies and a highly commended awards for Dubliner lighter white, carbery cracker mature cheddar, carbery special reserve, reduced fat cheese and its half fat cheese.

The awards attracted more than 40,000 visitors this year to Nantwich in the UK, where 300 judges sampled nearly 5,000 cheese entries across 500 categories, from more than 27 countries around the world.

Paul McGillicuddy, commercial director, Carbery Group said: ‘Winning such prestigious awards for our reduced fat cheeses highlights our focus and investment in this growing sector across both retail and B2B. We are also especially proud of the awards for our inclusion cheeses, which demonstrate how we are constantly challenging ourselves to innovate our offering, so our customers can in turn, bring a differentiated range to their consumers, either through food service or retail outlets.’

Jerry O’Sullivan, group cheese production manager added: ‘These awards are a testament to the high quality of our West Cork milk and the expertise of our team here. We are very proud that we are being recognised at such a high level, as our reputation for quality is very important to our shareholders, milk suppliers and customer.’

The facility in Ballineen is one of the largest cheese-production facilities in Ireland, producing almost 25% of Ireland’s annual cheddar output.With much of their current produce exported to UK markets, they are developing new markets and products to Brexit-proof the cheddar business.