With competition entries and conference registrations rolling in, the ACS staff, board, and committees are in full "Madison mode" gearing up for ACS 30th Anniversary: In a Dairy State of Mind.  We are wowed by the overwhelming enthusiasm for this year's events, and excited that we will be seeing so many of our wonderful members this summer. Tastings, tours, and hotel rooms are filling fast, so act soon if you haven't made your plans yet! If you are interested in sharing a room in Madison with a fellow attendee, email Jana Hemphill who is collecting information to help connect potential roommates. You won't want to miss this year's conference, which offers top-notch programming, opportunities to network and socialize, and a real feel of summer on the lake in Madison. We are grateful to our many generous sponsors, led by Marquee Sponsor Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, for helping to make this annual event such a powerhouse industry gathering -- as well as a whole lot of fun! 

While conference planning can be all-consuming, the challenge when life gets hectic is to be sure that the important things don't always get side-tracked by the urgent things. With a small and busy ACS team, this isn't always easy. ACS members and the broader cheese community supported our recent FDA outreach on behalf of the industry, and we know this is an area you want us to keep at the forefront. To that end, ACS President Greg O'Neill will be representing ACS in Washington, D.C. next week at the FDA/FSIS public meeting on their latest qualitative assessment of the risk of listeriosis at retail delicatessens. ACS will share our efforts to elevate the professionalism and knowledge of cheese retailers, citing the Certified Cheese Professional™ designation, Body of Knowledge, ongoing educational programming, and our Best Practices Guide for Retailers, which is currently in the works.

We are fortunate to work in an industry where there is such respect, collaboration, and support along the entire "cheese chain," as this allows us to use our limited resources to present a unified voice that can be heard consistently among cheesemakers, distributors, retailers, and the entire industry. Thank you for being an important part of this unique and passionate group.

Sincerely,

President

Enter the ACS Judging & Competition by May 17!   

If you haven't entered the 2013 ACS Judging & Competition, remember that the on-time deadline to submit your entries is Friday, May 17. Enter your company's cheeses, yogurts, and other cultured dairy products now for the lowest fees: just $60 per entry.

On May 18, entry fees will increase to $85 per entry. No entries will be accepted after May 24.

ENTRY DEADLINES & FEES

May 17 - Deadline for ON-TIME entries / $60 per entry
May 24 - Deadline for LATE entries / $85 per entry

ACS is accepting entries via its online entry system. Producers can submit and pay for entries online, in just a few simple steps. Enter today -- we hope to see you, and your products, in Madison! 

ENTER NOW!   

Regulatory News & Updates   

ACS to Attend Public Meeting on Risk Assessment

of Listeria in Retail Delicatessens 

Meet the Cheesemaker Spaces are Filling: Register Soon! 

Registration for Meet the Cheesemaker is now open. This event allows cheesemakers to directly market and sample their cheeses and cultured dairy products (up to six different products per producer) to hundreds of key industry distributors, retailers, buyers, and food writers from throughout North America. 

Meet the Cheesemaker will take place on Thursday, August 1 from 3:45 PM - 6:00 PM during ACS 30th Anniversary: In a Dairy State of Mind, the Annual ACS Conference & Competition in Madison, WI. Registrants will receive a six foot table, flexible cutting board, tooth picks, and a standard knife as part of their registration fee. Participants are also encouraged to bring their own marketing and advertising materials for their table.  

The cost of registration is currently $185, but it will increase to $225 on June 29. If you have any questions, please feel free to call the ACS office at (720) 328-2788 or email programs@cheesesociety.org. Space is limited so register soon!

Prepare for Market Season with Food Safety for Farmers' Market Vendors - A Free Member Webinar on May 21 

Tuesday, May 21 

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Mountain Time 

Register Today!

No one wants to make a customer sick, and selling at farmers' markets can sometimes present logistical challenges for food safety. On Tuesday, May 21, the ACS Webinar Series continues with a timely webinar, Food Safety for Farmers' Market Vendors. Londa Nwadike, Extension Food Safety Specialist at the University of Vermont, will be the featured presenter. Her informative presentation focuses on the importance of general food safety, along with best practices for food safety at farmers' markets. Be sure to join us for this valuable session! 

Curds? No Whey! 

The 2013 ACS Judging & Competition is sponsored by Atlanta Foods International

It was ACS Board member Bob Wills who first brought up the topic of cheese curds a couple of years ago, suggesting that special handling was desirable for judging this fabulous fresh bit of cheesemaking Americana. It's true that those famously-squeaky morsels are produced and sold with the intention of being consumed within one day of production. However, the mechanics of working a special schedule for shipping, receiving, and judging curds within the continuously-growing process of handling hundreds and hundreds of entries presented real challenges.

One of the basic principles of the ACS Judging & Competition has always been that cheese and dairy products have to be presented to the judges in exactly the same manner as they would reach the consumer. This is the reason we require whole, original forms and why you are not allowed to submit entries that have been plugged or tested. The judges should be evaluating and scoring the same product that is readily available to the public. Based on this idea, solving the cheese curd conundrum seemed like a challenge worth accepting.

As you can imagine, it takes months of planning to manage and schedule the hundred-plus subcategories that ACS judges go through. Until this year, we had been trying to figure out how cheesemakers could ship on Monday for Tuesday delivery, so that judges could look at entries first thing on Wednesday morning. With judging moved to Monday and Tuesday this year, it became clear that it would be virtually impossible to schedule a Tuesday afternoon judging for curds, as we have no guarantee of delivery times from the various carriers and hand-deliveries. At first blush, it looked as though we'd be facing an impossible challenge. Ultimately, the shift gave way to our solution...a separate Saturday judging.

So, in 2013, for the first time, we're asking cheese curd producers to ship or hand-deliver their entries for receiving on Friday, July 26. We have invited a special team of judges (Patty Ehlers Peterson of Larry's Market in Brown Deer, WI, and Dr. Bill Wendorff, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) to come in on Saturday, July 27, to evaluate the category. (Please note: We will not accept deliveries on Saturday! Entries must reach us by end of day on Friday.)

In a related category, the idea of judging fresh mozzarella came up in our very first discussion of cheese curds years ago and was introduced to the society in last year's Town Hall Meeting. This relates to truly fresh mozzarella, that is to say cheese which is produced on site, often merchandised out of refrigeration and meant to be consumed on that day. (It would not include packaged mozzarella, no matter how "fresh" or fresh-tasting, with any extended shelf life.)

Here, the issue was not the mechanics of handling the cheese, but in defining the new category itself. Who would be a true cheesemaker amongst the fresh mozzarella producers? We know that many local latticini produce their own curd or have curd made for them to their specifications. But, what if an enterprising cheese shop or specialty retailer bought a readily-available commercial curd and made fresh cheese in their shop? Are they a cheesemaker? The committee felt not.

So what are the criteria for a cheesemaker of fresh mozzarella? Given all the category changes we had to grapple with, and the addition of the cheese curd category, we were unable to wrap our heads around a solid definition for this intriguing new category in time for this year's Judging & Competition. But, we like the idea of this subcategory, and will continue the discussion as we plan for 2014. 

As always, we'd like to hear from you. What do you think the proper requirements should be for fresh mozzarella making? Your input is requested, and welcome.

Sincerely,

David Grotenstein

ACS Judging & Competition Committee