Swiss take cheese world championship first and second place, 2010 (photo: World Cheese Championship)

Madison, Wisconsin, USA (GenevaLunch) – Say “cheese” this week and the Swiss dairy industry will smile. Awards at the World Champion Cheese Contest in Wisconsin 18 March might provide a clue as to why the Swiss hold the world record for eating cheese. First and second place awards went to Swiss cheesemakers. Cheeses and butters from 20 countries participated in the bi-annual event, with 2,313 competitors’ products judged by an international team of 30 judges.

First place went to Cedric Fragniere, Emmi Kase AG in Kirchberg, Switzerland for his gruyère, with an overall score of 98.79.

Close behind, winning the first runner-up award was Cheesemakers from Andeer Sennerei, from Andeer, Switzerland for their Andeerer Traum cheese, with 98.52 points. An Austrian cheese took third place.

Cheesemaker Michael Spycher of Kaserei Fritzenhaus in Wasen, Switzerland, was named World Champion in 2008 for his gruyère.

Switzerland exported more than 62,000 tons of cheese in 2009. It produces some 450 types of cheese and more than half the milk produced in Switzerland is used to make cheese.

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