NORTHUMBERLAND CHEESE GETS A-LEVEL MARK (MARCH 2008)

Food producers have a major responsibility for ensuring their products are safe to eat, apart from worrying about whether customers will enjoy the taste.

And producers hoping to sell their produce through supermarkets and the larger delis and wholesalers are expected to have certification against an appropriate standard
set by the British Retail Consortium(BRC), which carries global recognition.

Currently the highest standard is Grade A, which is usually achieved by some of the bigger food producers employing staff wholly dedicated to raising standards of production including equipment, methods, safety and hygiene.

In the case of the Northumberland Cheese Company based at Blagdon, near Morpeth, Grade A accreditation has now been achieved largely through the sterling efforts of dairy manager Jackie Riley, 30, over the past three years. Jackie leads a small team through the making, maturing, storing and despatching of a wide variety of artisan cheeses, but also the constant up-dating of records of all ingredient movements in and out of the dairy.

Even during six months’ maternity leave following the birth of her first baby, Joe, on March 22 last year, Jackie kept a close watch on progress at Northumberland Cheese, and founder and proprietor, Mark Robertson, praises her dedication. “She is a terrific worker,” he said, “ and leads an excellent team by example.”

Jackie, who started her maternity leave only a few days before her baby was due, supervises three cheesemakers, Martin Atkinson, who is also assistant dairy manager, Helen Wilkinson and Craig Smith, and despatch manager Heather Maddocks, whose husband Lee also helps out in the dairy. Jackie’s mother, Sandra, also works in despatch.

Before joining the Northumberland Cheese Company nearly five years ago, Jackie, who is from Wylam in Northumberland, worked for the Real Soup Company, but she was made redundant when the business transferred from Hexham to Masham in North Yorkshire. Within weeks of joining Mark Robertson he appointed her dairy manager, saying he had never come across anyone who picked up the understanding of cheesemaking and all its nuances as quickly as Jackie did. And into the bargain, he added, she was happy to handle all the paperwork.

Having BRC accreditation gets you to the door of the biggest retailers, but it is the quality of your produce and your ability to deliver the quantities they want that takes you through the door, according to Mark Robertson.

Today, the company he started modestly in the Rede Valley of north Northumberland in 1984, moving it to Blagdon Estate in 1996, enjoys a growing reputation as one of the country’s finest cheesemakers. Not only has Northumberland Cheese collared scores of awards at leading cheese fairs and competitions in the UK and overseas, it also supplies leading delis and retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. Its best selling lines are Northumberland Smoked Cheese and Northumberland Nettle Cheese, but there is a continuing demand across the whole range of its cheeses, each of which has its own loyal supporters.

The complete range of cheeses is stocked at the company’s cheese/coffee shop at the Cheese Farm, Green Lane, Blagdon, and can be viewed on line at www.northumberland-cheese.co.uk.