“Reward, discord and fraud”

It seems a never-ending challenge for the farming community as last year’s nightmare continues for the British farmer. Milk production remains high and well above last year, and with the mild moist winter and arrival of warm weather we will see the grass growing like crazy, potentially giving us a spring flush of huge proportions.

We hear that some farmers are giving up and that slaughter houses are full; none of this benefits either the artisan or the volume makers.

The value taken out of the market by endless milk price reductions, and the quick grasp of the major retailers to gain this and either pass it on or boost margins, has seen more output and less cash downstream.

Cheddar, as the consumer market maker in price and the everyday purchase, has slithered lower and lower in value without any appreciable rise in volume. A slugging turf war between the retailer private label and major brands has seen the war first move one way then the other, and the shoppers simply buy the best bargain and show a willingness to be totally promiscuous. We can expect little change here in this broken model, and with Irish Cheddar mounting up in vast volume we can expect another bloodbath on the Cheddar front soon.

Contrast this with the ability of most regional and artisan cheese to hold their price, as well as a significant number of Continentals too, and the dairy picture for the trade and consumer alike becomes very confusing.

The Cheddar mentality pervades the conscious thinking of so many that when the inevitable increase in Italian Parmigiano Reggiano arrives as it must in the coming days and weeks, there will be howls of disbelief. Comte too has been struggling to meet demand both in France and in export on the best of quality, and no weakness is coming here.

The good news is that the shopper has money in their pockets, albeit they have become more savvy in the past three years and their judgements of value are more demanding than before.

Nobody ever loses the desire for new, especially when the spending power is released, so if there is something truly new and with a point of difference it may yet find traction even in these confusing times – so for some there is still reward in these tough periods.

Goats cheese continues to find growth, and at the recent Salon exhibition in France the overwhelming offers on soft and additive varieties was an indication of a moving trend.

There is a plethora of local British blue cheese now, all with fetching local names, and in the meantime Long Clawson are flying the innovation flag for the favourite Blue Stilton with many new developments.

Now the news coming from various directions of a variety of food frauds. First brought to light when experts found that chilli powder and other recognised ingredients were being adulterated at source, bringing the wrath of the technical brigade down on a whole new area of opportunity.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic the USA authorities have alleged adulteration of Parmesan flakes in major retailers, with something akin to wood chipping said to be present. There is no defence for deliberate fraud complicity, but maybe part of culpability is the relentless driving down of prices on volume premium sectors, where for some makers perhaps the loss of major business may seem terminal. Hence cheating to meet unrealistic price expectations

Cheating is not confined to those outside the UK. On journeys around the retailers of the world I have seen some best before dates on cheese that simply defy belief. Crumbly Territorials with nine months plus, blues with six months, additives with six months or more. In one retailer I took off their own shelves a cheese from the UK and challenged them to taste it – the result was proof that someone is cheating the shopper with an appalling level of quality, and British exporters are complicit in it, even if asked to do it by the buyers. I worry about the thoughts of people who buy this substandard product and then never revisit buying it because of that.

In a coming year with so much production, price and supply discord, for some there is a reward to be had, whilst no one has the right to commit fraud on the market or the shopper.