News – Page 56 – Maine Cheese Guild

University of Maine Cooperative Extension has announced that they will present a Dairy Sanitation Workshop on Monday, June 1st at the University of Maine Orono campus in the Buchanan Alumni Hall, McIntire Room. The Maine Cheese Guild will co-sponsor the event, and Guild members will receive a discount on the workshop fee.

Guild members will get a discount on the registration fee — here is the link to register.

Registration opens at 8:15am and the sessions begin at 9am. This will be an all-day workshop with a break for lunch (included in the workshop fee). There will be a limit of 50 people they can accommodate so it is advised that you register as soon as possible to make sure there is room for you at the workshop.

This workshop will also include the latest update on the upcoming implementation of the federal Food Safety and Modernization Act which will completely overhaul food safety compliance across the country beginning October 2015. (The Guild has posted updates on this periodically but we expect things to change right up through the implementation.)

The Maine Cheese Guild announces that we will offer to cover the cost of every Maine Cheese Guild member’s first ACS Competition entry for 2015. We know from past experience that the more Maine cheeses that are entered into the largest cheese competition in North America, the more Maine cheeses will win awards and illustrate the quality of cheese being made and sold in Maine.

In addition, the Maine Cheese Guild will organize a group shipment of ALL Guild entries to the ACS Competition and will subsidize up to $500 of the cost for that, splitting any additional costs among those who participate. Details on this will be sent to everyone who participates in the First Entry Reimbursement as the shipping date approaches in July.

Reimbursement for your first ACS Competition Entry is simple: enter at least one cheese in the ACS competition. Each entry is $60 and you must enter before May 9th (there is a one-week late entry period, but the Guild will reimburse for only the regular entry fee on your first entry); you must be an ACS member to participate, and you will need to be prepared to upload a picture/scan of your current local license certificate when you enter the competition on-line. When you receive your email receipt, forward that email with your mailing address to our treasurer, Mary Belding–

(littlefallsfarmcheeseATgmailDOTcom using the @ and . symbols where upper-case)

–and she will send you a check for your first entry fee.

Good Luck!