When making artisanal cheese, the lion’s share of the milk used — 10 pounds of milk to produce 1 pound of cheese — comes from 1.27 million dairy cows in Wisconsin. 

Making cheese predates recorded history, but artisan cheesemaking in the U.S. is a relatively new industry. According to a 2016 American Cheese Society (ACS) report, there are more than 900 artisan, farmstead and specialty cheesemakers operating in the United States. While a few artisan cheesemakers have been in business for over 100 years, the average has been making cheese for only 15 years.

The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy has scheduled two additional regional food safety workshops in a continued effort to provide food safety training to the artisan/farmstead cheesemaking segment of the dairy industry.