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GOURMET NEWS SEPTEMBER 2018 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 1 2 ACS Awards Continued from PAGE 1 technical defects for a total top score of up to 100 points. In this first round of judging, each cheese is judged on its own merits. "Judges don't know what they're tasting," said John Antonelli, Past President of the American Cheese Society. Cheeses had to earn at least 95 points to be named a first-place winner in one of 123 categories – a thresh- old that was raised this year because the overall im- provement in the quality of ACS entrants is resulting in higher scores, said Richard Rogers, who chaired this year's judging committee. Category winners then competed for best of show honors. Cellars at Jasper Hill is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and the com- pany is also celebrating its third ACS award for Harbison, which has won two third- place awards in past years. Greensward, a cheese made with Harbison and aged in its caves by Murray's Cheese, won third place in ACS' 2016 competition. This is a first best of show award for COWS Creamery, which is located on Prince Edward Island in Canada, although Avonlea won the 2016 Canadian Cheese Award. The creamery started life 35 years ago making ice cream and has been making cheese for the past 12 years, said Andrea White, the creamery's Wholesale Manager. All of the milk used to make the Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar comes from a coopera- tive of farms on Prince Edward Island with an average herd size of 65 cows. Avonlea is aged by COWS Creamery for 12 to 18 months before sale, and the particular wheel that won the award for the creamery was made from winter milk and then aged for about 18 months, White said. "We don't make a special vat. It's just what we have on hand," she added. "We're totally humbled and surprised and very honored to have re- ceived this." Cellars at Jasper Hill's Harbison is a soft- ripened cheese with a bloomy rind and a belt made from the cambium layer of spruce trees local to Greensboro, Vermont, where Cellars at Jasper Hill has its home. It's made from pasteurized cow milk at the Food Venture Center, a shared-use facility owned by the Center for an Agricultural Economy, a non-profit organization work- ing to build a healthy, regenerative food system by promoting local foods and the people who produce them. Cellars at Jasper Hill is a core tenant of the facility and occupies a dedicated space for a creamery that's operated with the inten- tion of developing new cheeses and cheesemakers so that they can move onto revitalized dairy farms as opportunities arise, thus helping to preserve Vermont's working agricultural landscape. Cellars at Jasper Hill has contributed to the local economy with $100 million in ex- penses for its farming and cheesemaking activities over the past 15 years, of which about $80 million has been spent in Vermont and $60 million within a 30-mile radius of the farm, according to Zoe Brickley, who manages sales, marketing and educa- tion for Jasper Hill. "That has a big impact on our re- gion," she said. Calderwood is a cheese that's exclusive to Saxelby Cheesemongers. It starts with Cellars at Jasper Hill's Alpha Tolman, a raw cow's milk cheese that's also made at the Food Venture Center, although it will soon be moving back to the original Jasper Hill Farms Creamery before too long, while Harbi- son will remain at the Food Venture Cen- ter. Milk for the Alpha Tolman comes from Farmer James Coe at the Anderson- ville Farm. Once the wheels that will be- come Calderwood have aged for six months, they're coated with dry hay har- vested from pastures around Jasper Hill Farm and dried at the Calderwood Crop- ping Center, designed and built by the Jasper Hill employee who inspired the cheese's name. The hay-coated wheels are wrapped in plastic and allowed to age for another four months before the plastic is removed and the cheese is left to dry and form its rind in the cellars. The finished wheels of Calderwood are firm, nutty and complex, with hints of earth, caramel, chestnut honey, and tropical fruit. "This year's com- petition once again featured the very best cheeses and cheese- makers in the Ameri- cas," said Nora Weiser, ACS Execu- tive Director. "The diversity of cheeses displays the skill and passion of American cheesemakers. In taking two top hon- ors, Cellars at Jasper Hill exemplifies how American artisan cheesemakers seamlessly meld tradition and innovation." For a complete list of this year's winners and judges' biographies, visit www .cheesejudging.org. GN UNFI to Acquire SUPERVALU United Natural Foods, Inc. and SUPER- VALU INC. have entered into a definitive agreement under which UNFI will acquire SUPERVALU for $32.50 per share in cash, or approximately $2.9 billion, including the assumption of outstanding debt and li- abilities. "This transaction accelerates UNFI's Build out the Store growth strategy by immediately enhancing our product range, equipping us to bring an attractive, comprehensive product portfolio to an ex- panded universe of customers," said Steve Spinner, UNFI's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. "Combining our leading position in natural and organic foods with SUPERVALU's presence in fast-turning products makes us the partner of choice for a broader range of customers. Together, we can provide our better-for-you products as well as other high-growth segments, im- proving customers' competitive advantages in a dynamic marketplace. These benefits, plus our increased efficiency and produc- tivity, will enable us to create value for our shareholders, enhance opportunities for our suppliers, provide a broader assortment for our customers and create new prospects for our associates over the long term." "The combination of UNFI and SUPER- VALU provides a substantial premium and delivers certainty of value to our stockhold- ers, meaningful benefits to our customers, expanded opportunities for our employees, and the ability for us and our vendors to ef- ficiently serve a varied customer base," said Mark Gross, SUPERVALU's Chief Executive Officer. "We have been executing an ambi- tious strategic transformation for over two years. We believe that this transaction is the best and natural next step for our stock- holders, customers and employees. I am very proud of the unwavering commitment and focus of our employees in driving our strategic transformation and serving our customers. I am confident that, together, SUPERVALU and UNFI will be well posi- tioned to succeed – and to help our cus- tomers succeed – in today's grocery landscape." Spinner will lead the combined entity. Sean Griffin, UNFI Chief Operating Officer, will lead the SUPERVALU integration ef- forts, post close and lead an integration committee comprised of executives from both companies to drive the implementa- tion of best practices from each company and the delivery of important synergies and a rapid and smooth integration. UNFI expects to finance the transaction substantially with debt and Goldman Sachs provided committed financing in the trans- action. Over time, UNFI plans to divest SU- PERVALU retail assets in a thoughtful and economic manner. GN Expo East Continued from PAGE 1 Wednesday morning will also offer the Natural Products Hemp & CBD Summit, a gathering of speakers who will discuss the newest ideas in the cannabis revolution, from legal issues to emerging science. The Summit will be held on Wednesday, Sep- tember 12 from 8:30 to 11. Todd Runestad, Ingredients & Supplements Editor for New Hope Network, will act as master of cere- monies. From 1 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday after- noon, retailers and distributors in the nat- ural products channel will join the Climate Collaborative to further discussions about how natural products companies can act to mitigate or reverse the effects of global warming. Katherine DiMatteo, the Execu- tive Director of the Sustainable Food Trade Association will moderate the discussions along with Joanne Sonenshine, Founder and CEO of Connective Impact, which aids organizations in addressing social, environ- mental and economic development chal- lenges through partnerships and collaboration. The Local Community Retail Summit and Happy Hour that's also scheduled for Wednesday afternoon – from 3:30 to 6 p.m. – will offer inspiration and strategies for bringing new retail ideas to life. A keynote presentation for the event will be offered by Mike Lee, Founder of The Future Market and co-Founder of Alpha Food Labs. The state of the natural products indus- try will be discussed on Thursday morning with a presentation of the latest consumer research, and then exhibits open on the show floor, where more than 1,500 compa- nies are expected to show products that range from foods and neutraceuticals to personal care and pet products. Exhibits will be open September 13, 14 and 15. Thursday afternoon will feature a discus- sion of regenerative agriculture with a speaker's list that includes Chris Kerston, Director of Public Outreach & Events for The Savory Institute, which promotes large-scale restoration of the world's grass- lands; Dan Stangler, Business Unit Director for Annie's Homegrown Foods; Sara Harper, Founder and CEO of Grounded Growth, an online platform that promotes partnerships between farmers, food compa- nies and consumers in the interest of sup- porting sustainable agriculture; and Tyler Lorenzen, President of PURIS, which makes plant-based foods from pea protein produced in the U.S. Friday's sessions kick off in the morning with a discussion of the big ideas and inno- vations that will drive the next decade of organic industry growth and influence, highlighted with a keynote address by Karen Washington, co-Owner & Farmer at Rise & Root Farm. Rise & Root Farm is a cooperatively-run farm in Orange County, New York, about an hour from New York City. Before retiring from New York City to the farm, Washington was a long-time food justice activist and advocate for community garden preservation. The conference continues on Friday with a discussion of funding options for food businesses and another discussion on the legal and regulatory outlook for the natural products industry. Natural Products Expo East will wrap up on Saturday, September 15 with the final day of the trade show. Ex- hibits will be open on Saturday from 9:30 to 4 p.m. GN

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