Tonne of cheese must be destroyed, by court order

A TONNE of cheese made at an award-winning Welsh food centre must be destroyed, after its makers failed to get council approval to produce it.

The “food condemnation order” application by Conwy Council for the Bocksburg blue cheese was opposed by Carmarthenshire Dairy Products.

It had been producing the cheese at the dairy at Bodnant Welsh Food Centre and it had been sold through Tesco stores. A council environmental health officer made a routine inspection at the centre in Conwy Valley and discovered the firm didn’t have approval for cheese-making there.

Sharon Harding said cheese had been “detained” and a notice served stopping the blue cheese being sold to the public. “It’s been produced before approval,” Miss Harding told Llandudno Magistrates’ Court. The authority said around 1,100kg of cheese was involved.

Steven Peace, the company’s business manager, said he had been in the industry for 40 years and the firm had consulted the FSA. Questioned by solicitor Julia Longworth, for the council, he accepted there was no authorisation in Conwy.

He told the court: “We had no intent and no reason to do anything that wasn’t within the law. If a mistake has been made, it was an honest mistake.” Mr Peace said withdrawing the product would impact a business only a few months old. The council lawyer said: “The authority could bring criminal proceedings. That’s not the motivation of the authority.”

Court chairman Graham Edwards said: “Approval of Carmarthenshire Dairy Products to produce the blue cheese hasn’t been granted. We therefore have no choice but to grant the application. We hope the company works closely with Conwy in the future. We wouldn’t want the company to fail.”