DAIRY PRODUCTS REFLECTION OF DEVELOPED CONSUMER TASTE

South African dairy products compete today (15 March) for the honour to be named SA Champions. Products in eight categories, namely butter, cheese, cottage cheese, yoghurt, flavoured milk, dairy dips, ice cream and dairy dessert, are being judged by a panel of 40 judges from the industry, including an international cheese developer, mr Ulf Mortensen from Denmark. A Qualité Award, South Africa's only symbol of outstanding dairy quality, is bestowed on SA Champions which score a specific minimum number of points, and the top Qualité Award product becomes the SA Dairy Product of the Year. These championships with 786 entries, of which the results are audited, are presented by Agri-Expo for the 178th year and compare well with the best Dairy Championships in the world.

"Entries in the Championships are a direct reflection of the market and consumer trends" says mr Kobus Mulder, chief judge. "An increase of 16% in the number of entries for matured cheese, indicates that the local cheese consumer's taste is now more sophisticated and that cheese with a complex taste is therefore preferred." Mulder also commented that "the increase in yoghurt with fruit entries (10% year-on-year), is an indication that a significant percentage of consumers prefer their daily yoghurt snack to be tasty as well as a source of energy".

One of the new yoghurt judges at this year's judging is Adri Swartland, one of four Burgundy cheese making fellowship students that went to France in 2006. At the time she was a student cheese maker at Parmalat Simonsberg and today is the Quality Manager at Fair Cape, a well known yoghurt manufacturer in the Western Cape. Since 2005, Agri-Expo has been the programme leader for this training initiative by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture to send students to France for cheese making knowledge as part of the highly successful cooperative agreement between the Burgundy and Western Cape governments.

The 2012 winners will be announced on Wednesday evening 25 April in Stellenbosch during the DuPont Qualité Dinner, attended by role players from the whole dairy industry in South Africa. From 27 -30 April, cheese lovers will be able to taste some of these awarded products at the annual SA Cheese Festival at Sandringham, Stellenbosch, halfway between Cape Town and Paarl and decide for themselves whether the judges made the right choices.

For more information regarding the Dairy Championships and the SA Cheese Festival, contact Mariana Rabie at [email protected] or 021 975 4440 / 082 871 1114 or visit www.cheesesa.co.za