Kildery Cheese - Collaboration at its Best
Cheese has been targeted by Teagasc and Ornua as a vital end product for the increased milk pool likely to arise as milk quotas end, because demand for cheese is growing worldwide.
In 2014, Kildery, a Maasdammer-style cheese, was launched as a new Irish continental-style branded cheese in Germany. It was developed at the Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy and in collaboration with Tipperary Co-operative Creamery and Ornua, under the Kerrygold brand.
Manuel Rodriguez-Eicke, marketing director, Kerrygold, Germany, said: “Kerrygold Kildery Cheese brings Kerrygold into the mainstream Maasdam category, the largest branded cheese category in Germany.”
This successful collaboration was based on the significant expertise of Teagasc in cheese technology. Pilot scale to commercial scale development was undertaken at the Moorepark Technology pilot plant facility.
“This resulted in the development and refinement of prototypes, which underwent technology transfer to commercial scale. In commercial scale trials, technologists from Teagasc, Ornua and Tipperary Coop combined their diverse areas of expertise to optimise the production and ripening processes resulting in Kildery cheese,” said Dr. Diarmuid Sheehan, research scientist and cheese programme manager at Teagasc’s Dairy Innovation Centre.
The collaboration drew on IDB expertise in market distribution/ global sales and production and the scale-up capabilities of Tipperary Co-op. With increased exports of Irish dairy products there will be some financial payback to Teagasc based on agreed royalties on sales, which will be reinvested into the food research programme.
Publish date: 2015
Find out more about working with third-level research