Schuman Cheese introduces trust mark to counter widespread adulteration of Italian cheeses

The True Cheese trust mark began appearing on Schuman cheese and snacks this summer as a way to tell consumers that they are made only with milk, cultures, salt and enzymes and are properly aged to meet regulatory requirements – unlike some mislabeled Italian cheese products sold by competitors, Neal Schuman, the third-generation CEO of the family-owned Schuman Cheese, told FoodNavigator-USA. The mark also will assure consumers that if any anti-caking ingredients are used they are properly labeled and at or below industry accepted levels, he added. In addition, the trust mark will serve as a platform for the company to talk about “the notion of quality, and the faithfulness to craftsmanship, care and consideration in the supply chain, all the way back to the dairy farm,” that the company takes in making its cheese, said Robert Wheatley, CEO of Emergent – The Health Living Agency. Why the mark is necessary Schuman created the mark to set its products apart from several high-profile recalls and investigations by FDA into manufacturers that allegedly sold products labeled as 100% Parmesan cheese but which did not contain Parmesan. “The issue that prompted the development of the trust mark has been going on for decades and operating pretty much behind the curtain of obscurity. Only recently has awareness come out about these conditions on a more broad basis,” Schuman said. He estimates that about 20%, or more than 90 million pounds of the 463 million pounds of domestically-produced varieties of Italian hard cheeses sold in the US annually are adulterated, “meaning they are represented as Parmesan, Romano or Asiago but they are not made according to the regulations for those products.” Rather, he explained, they may include excessive non-cheese fillers, such as cellulose, salt and starch, or be made from vegetable or non-dairy based solids that are used in imitation cheese. The problem of adulterated and diluted hard Italian cheese is not new, but Schuman said it became more of a problem in the US following the Great Recession in 2008, when consumers and companies became more cost-conscious and had unrealistic expectations about quality and cost. He explained that not all companies intentionally adulterated or mislabeled their products. Rather “a lot of the problem comes from a lack of education,” about the standards and why they are important – which the True Cheese mark should help address. How the mark will be verified and why that is important The True Cheese mark represents more than just Schuman Cheese’s word. It is verified by Covance Food Solutions – an independent, third-party lab that will randomly select and test Schuman Cheese products three times a year. Notably, the products tested will not come directly from Schuman’s manufacturing facility. Rather, they will be selected from the same store shelves where consumers buy their groceries. This adds “one more layer of credibility because what is being tested is the same product that consumers are buying,” and not a special production run, added Wheatley. Managing costs Given that cost concerns are what prompts most adulteration, Schuman will not pass along the cost of the testing and verification to its consumers, Schuman said. However, Wheatley noted that recent consumer research reveals that most shoppers would be willing to pay more for higher quality, guaranteed hard Italian cheese. He explained that a national quantitative consumer study conducted by the company found 75% of respondents said they would pay 10-25% more for real hard Italian cheese. The survey also found that two-thirds of consumers would no longer trust a company or brand that sold adulterated products and would stop purchasing their goods. An additional 78% said companies making adulterated cheese should not be allowed to label them as Parmesan, he noted. Schuman also noted that it is only a matter of time now before companies making adulterated products are caught by consumers. He explained that while it is hard for consumers to tell if a cheese is adulterated by picking it up and reading the label, the Millennial generation is “fact based … and if they don’t believe something, they have at their fingertips the ability to check it. So the world of BS has basically gone away,” giving rise to the more transparent one that Schuman’s True Cheese trust mark is embracing.

Schuman Cheese introduces trust mark to counter widespread adulteration of Italian cheeses

US-based Schuman Cheese is taking a stand against what the CEO described as widespread adulteration and fraud that currently are “diluting and polluting” some sectors of the Italian cheese market by rolling out the industry’s first trust mark.

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