The National Dairy Council (NDC) in the Republic of Ireland has welcomed the announcement that the European Commission will support a three-year co-funded information campaign promoting cheese and cheese culture.
Commenting on the announcement, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney T.D. said, “This is an exciting time for the dairy sector in the context of the expansion of the dairy sector post quota abolition in April 2015.
“This new marketing programme will also help to alleviate market pressures arising from the Russian trade ban."
Zoë Kavanagh, Chief Executive of the National Dairy Council added, “Cheese can be appropriate for almost any consumption occasion as it can be made available in a variety of forms, yet Irish consumers typically use cheese in a narrow range of occasions.”
The EU cheese programme will be co-funded by the dairy industry and is set to generate a total budget of €4,980,000 in four participating countries over the three years, from 2015. A sum of €720,328 has been allocated to promoting cheese in Ireland during that period.
The proposal to the EU was coordinated through the European Milk Forum on behalf of the organisations responsible for promoting dairy products in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark and France. The Irish submission was supported by the NDC, in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine.
The campaign aims to give consumers a clear understanding of the role cheese can play in the everyday diet, by identifying different occasions to eat cheese, different ways in which cheese can be used at mealtimes and other new ways to use cheese.
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Emily Horne
