REGULATORY-NEWS

ACS Response to Listeria Outbreak in NY State

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The American Cheese Society has written a letter to the editor in response to an article published on March 10th that detailed an outbreak of Listeria illnesses linked to cheeses made at Vuelto Cheese in Walton, New York. Unfortunately the outbreak has already been linked to two deaths.

The ACS has also just released an issue of their regular member newsletter The Traditional Cheese Advocate that details the resources they have developed for member cheesemakers around the issues in food safety and raw milk cheese production.

LEARN

FREE Quickbooks Classes for Farm Accounting

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Introduction to Farm Accounting with QuickBooks Pro Workshop

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
UMaine Regional Learning Center
75 Clearwater Drive, Suite 104
Falmouth, Maine 04105
Venue Phone: 207.781.6099 or 800.287.1471 (in Maine)
Registration Cost: Free

Preregistration is required. Class is limited to 15. Please contact Pam St. Peter at pamela.stpeter@maine.edu or 207.933.2100 to register or request a disability accommodation.

This free workshop is for farmers who are first-time users or have less than a year’s experience with QuickBooks. The presenters, QuickBooks ProAdvisors from Austin Associates, will demonstrate how to record farm business transactions, generate reports for measuring financial performance, and provide an example of how QuickBooks is used on a Maine vegetable farm. Participants may bring a laptop but it is not required.

The workshop is sponsored by the UMaine Cooperative Extension Crop Insurance Education Program.

Participants will be entered in a drawing to win a QuickBooks Pro™ subscription.

For more information about the workshop or the UMaine Cooperative Extension Crop Insurance Education Program, contact Erin Roche at erin.roche@maine.edu or 207.949.2490, or visit their website.

State of Maine Flag

Maine Headed for Licensed Cheesemaker Record

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87  cheesemaker licenses were confirmed and a whopping 23 were still pending in a report provided by the Maine Department of Agriculture in February 2017. According to Linda Stahlnecker, M.S., Director. Milk Quality Lab / LEO, that would b a record number for Maine. You can read the list of those holding licenses as of February 2017 here. The Guild also maintains a map showing the location of licensed Maine cheesemakers here, including Guild and non-Guild members.