Nigel White secretary of the British Cheese Board told DairyReporter.com that whilst quality matured cheddars have continued to undergo a renaissance in their British homeland; this passion has not yet transferred to foreign markets.

The claims follow the publication of new figures by marketing group TNS that found that sales of cheddar cheese in Britain were up by 3.6 per cent for the 52 weeks ending 2 December 2007 compared to the same period the previous year.

Total sales of the cheese amounted to 201,160 tonnes over the period, driven mainly by demand for mature and extra mature varieties of the product, which was up 6.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis. However, this growth occurred alongside a decline in the mild and medium varieties, which fell by 1.7 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.

White said that the growth reflected a general turnaround in British cheese tastes from the introduction of cheaper-to-manufacture mild cheddars in the mid-1970s, back to mature varieties.

Source: Dairyreporter.com