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Battle to protect a great Yorkshire cheese
Other EU countries shield hundreds of products – and now Wensleydale seeks special status to fend off impostors Lizzie Murphy A BATTLE is launched today to safeguard real Wensleydale cheese from imitations with special EU protection.
Lizzie Murphy
A BATTLE is launched today to safeguard real Wensleydale cheese from imitations with special EU protection.
And the fight is backed by the Yorkshire Post in our new Uniquely Yorkshire campaign.
The company which makes it is applying to the EU for special status that would prevent any manufacturers outside Wensleydale from producing a cheese with the same name. If granted, the product would be called Real Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese.
The move would protect consumers from poor-quality impostors and secure the future prosperity of Wensleydale and hundreds of people's livelihood.
Wensleydale Dairy Products, based in the market town of Hawes, is the main producer but there are a handful of smaller producers in the area who would also be protected.
Protected status aims to promote and protect food products in the EU and is used to describe foods which are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using traditional methods.
Only 29 UK products have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status whereas other European countries such as France, Germany, Spain and Italy have hundreds. Only Swaledale Cheese and Swaledale Ewe's Cheese are in Yorkshire.
This is in stark contrast to France and Italy, which have about 300 between them, including Roquefort and Ricotta Romana.
Managing director David Hartley said protected status was something he had been considering for a few years.
He said: "The reality is that we do operate in a competitive market and we do hope PDO status will benefit our business.
"However, we are only one of a few makers of real Wensleydale cheese who are actually based in the Dale. More importantly, we only use milk produced by dairy herds grazed in Wensleydale. The Wensleydale brand is one of our most precious assets and it is right and proper that we should protect it."
The cheese even has the support of plasticine movie heroes Wallace & Gromit, who propelled it to world-wide fame. and MP William Hague has pledged his support for the campaign.
Mr Hartley said the company would submit its application to the Depart-ment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by the end of August. There would then be a period of consultation before it is passed to the EU in Brussels in October.
The EU would have six months consultation before deciding. If all goes to plan protected status would be granted within two years.
Flavours with long history
Wensleydale cheese has been made in Wensleydale since 1150.
Cistercian monks settled in the dale and established a monastery at Fors, just four miles from Hawes.
The art was passed down to farmers' wives who made the cheese in their farmhouses.
In 1897 Edward Chapman began to buy milk from surrounding farms to manufacture it on a larger scale.
White Wensleydale cheese has a mild, slightly sweet flavour with a honey aftertaste.
Blue Wensleydale is robust in flavour. It has a smooth creamy texture similar to Stilton but with a mellower flavour.
It is traditionally made with ewes' milk but more recently with cows' milk.
The cows graze in sweet limestone meadows rich in herbs, which gives the cheese its special flavour.
Busy employer of Dale 'family'
WITH 195 employees Wensleydale Dairy Products is one of the biggest employers in the Dale.
The largest number of staff are employed in the visitor centre, which opened in 1994.
Fifty two people, including 10 students, work to ensure the smooth operation of the centre, where visitors can see for themselves from the viewing gallery how the cheese is made.
Production of the cheese is spread across two sites at Hawes and Kirkby Malzeard, which employ 110 people.
Administration, sales and marketing, logistics, technical staff, drivers and storemen make up the remaining 33 staff.
But employee numbers can fluctuate to cope with seasonal demand. More staff are required in the visitor centre during the summer months, and additional staff are required in production in the run-up to Christmas.
Jean Metcalfe has been working for the Wensleydale Creamery on and off for the last 30 years.
She began in the 1970s making butter before leaving to have her two daughters. She returned to work in the administration department in 1990 and is now one of Wensleydale Dairy Products' two receptionists.
Originally from Swaledale, Mrs Metcalfe, 52, has lived in Hawes since 1974 and the company also provides employment to several members of her family, including her husband, James, a tanker driver.
She is the first port of call for the company's customers and suppliers on the telephone and at the front desk, directing them to the right departments.
She said: "I've seen quite a few changes.
"When I first worked here we didn't have the visitors centre but when that opened in 1994 it got busier and the whole business is now busier than it ever was. At first I was on reception on my own but now there are two of us, which goes to show how the volume of work has increased."
Mrs Metcalfe said it started to get busier after the worldwide success of the Wallace and Gromit characters.
"We always get people calling in and asking if this is the Wallace and Gromit place. People do associate the cheese with the characters," she said.
Most of the people employed by Wensleydale Dairy Products are from the local area and Mrs Metcalfe said she had often worked with generations of the same family.
"There aren't many families in Hawes who haven't had someone connected to the creamery at some point," she said.
As well as her husband, her sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law work at the company in production and packing.
She added: "Hawes is a family community and everyone knows each other and has done for quite a while through work and families.
"To get protected status is important to secure the future of Wensleydale cheese and the local economy."
Genuine article faces unfair competition
PRODUCTS that pass themselves off as genuine Wensleydale cheese will have their days numbered if the EU grants protected status for Real Yorkshire Wensleydale.
The move would mean that cheese producers outside the area could not make a product with the same name, therefore protecting the company's market.
It would also ensure that customers are eating the real product – a hand-crafted cheese, made from natural Wensleydale milk with a unique taste. Applying for Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) is a relatively rare practice in the UK.
The EU believes that protected status, which it created in 1992, considerably benefits the rural economy, in particular less-favoured or remote areas, such as Wensleydale, by improving farmers' incomes and keeping the rural population there.
PDOs primarily protect products with a reputation extending beyond regional borders which find themselves in competition with products that pass themselves off as the genuine art-icle and take the same name.
It is believed that this unfair competition not only discourages producers but also misleads consumers.
David Hartley, managing director of Wensleydale Dairy Products, said: "We believe it is important to get protection because there is a lot of Wensleydale being consumed that isn't from Wensleydale and protected status would mean we could say this is the genuine article, which nobody else would be able to do."
As well as Wensleydale Dairy Products, there are several other small producers of Wensleydale in the area, which the company says fully support its PDO application.
It believes protected status would make a significant contribution to the Wensleydale economy. The creamery already pumps millions into the economy in the form of wages, with a further 4m going to local farmers who supply the creamery with milk and are planning to increase their herds.
Goodness from clean countryside
REAL Yorkshire Wensley-dale cheese is made with cow's milk from 36 farms in Wensleydale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The wild flowers, herbs, and grasses that grow in the area give the milk and hence the cheese its unique flavour, influenced by the limestone soil.
Made to a time-honoured recipe that can be traced back to Cistercian monks, Wensleydale Creamery has been handcrafting the traditional hard cheese for over 100 years.
Alice Amsden, production director, said: "Much of the area is designated as one of environmental sensitivity where the use of
artificial fertilisers and chemicals is restricted. All of our cheese is pure, wholesome and full of goodness. We do not add sweeteners to our
recipes, ensuring a natural cheese flavour is delivered."
The company's hand-crafted and cloth-bound cheeses are available as traditional, blue, smoked and mature varieties.
CREAMERY RESCUED
Wensleydale Creamery rose from the ashes after it was threatened with closure in 1992 – with the help of a Yorkshire Post campaign.
The creamery in Hawes was actually closed by former owner Dairy Crest in May 1992, with the loss of 59 jobs, and in an act of sheer heresy Wensleydale cheesemaking transferred across the Pennines to Lancashire.
But six months later, and after a huge campaign by the Yorkshire Post, a management buyout returned production to its rightful home under Wensleydale Dairy Products.
When production at Hawes re-started in 1993, the creamery had only 11 staff and produced 340 tonnes of real Wensleydale a year.
It was the second time that it had been threatened with closure. The depression of the 1930s made trading conditions difficult, leaving it in significant debt to farmers.
In 1936 local businessman and character Kit Calvert rallied enough support to secure its future.
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