The Taiwan Cheese Professional Association was established yesterday to help nurture the domestic cheese industry in hopes of mitigating the effects of tariff-free imports of New Zealand milk starting this year.
This year marks the first year that the Agreement Between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation enters into effect.
Lab Man Mano founder Isabella Chen (陳淑惠), the association’s president, told a news conference in Taipei that 99 percent of Taiwan’s cheese products are imported, but some cheeses, such as mozzarella, are better fresh.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Chen said she had traveled to Italy in 2014 to learn more about cheese, and after her return, she felt that Taiwan could learn from Japan how to promote cheese sales.
She has been working with Japan’s Cheese Professional Association and its certification system would be introduced and implemented within the Taiwanese association, she said.
Exams would be held annually and those who pass will receive certification endorsed by the Japanese body, Chen said.
With certification, people can be cheese competition judges or speak at cheese seminars, she added.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, US dairy farmers were forced to dump millions of liters of milk, but Italy did not have that problem, Chen said.
Excess milk in Italy goes into cheese manufacturing, significantly extending the shelf-life of dairy products, she said.
Cheese manufacturing relies on a constant source of fresh milk, unlike butter or yogurt making, which can use imported dairy products, she said.
While Taiwan’s overhead for acquiring fresh milk is four times greater than in the US or the EU, the cost of making domestic cheese products is on par with importing, so there is a market for Taiwan-made cheeses, she said, adding that local manufacturing would mean cheesemakers could introduce local spices, such as mountain litsea.
Lee Yi-chien (李宜謙), director-general of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Animal Industry, told the news conference that raw milk production in Taiwan has increased to 470,000 tonnes from 370,000 tonnes over the past decade.
However, drink makers tend to use alternate milk sources and the declining birthrate has put a damper on domestic demand, Lee said.
“The quality of domestically produced milk is without question, and we hope that companies would find more uses for milk,” he said.
The ministry would be in close contact with the Taiwan Cheese Professional Association to help promote its products, Lee said.
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