Belgium: a cheesy country?

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Of course, Belgium has a lot of nice beers. And let’s not forget about their chocolate. But when it comes to other products, Belgians are often too humble. This is especially the case for the cheese makers. That’s why you probably don’t know – maybe even the Belgians don’t know either – that there are over 300 sorts of cheeses!

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Top cheeses, with an excellent taste, in all sorts of colours, shapes and smells and rated at an absolutely international level. Made with love and passion in diligent cheese factories. From the Walloon raw milk Tomme cheese of Gros-Chêne, the little smelly cheeses of Herve, the grand West-Flemish cheese factories of Passendale and Bruges, to the white mold cheeses from the farmer who knows each of his seventy cows by name. The family dairy farms are at the very foundation of the Belgian cheese production, where the intense devotion of the farmer guarantees absolute top quality products. You can simply taste it...
 
What Belgians do know however, is that when a product is made in their own country, it is simply a good product. Belgians might not say that their cheeses are the best, but they sure do expect them to be.
 
Aside from top quality, Belgians also expect guarantees when it comes to food safety and controls. The Belgian dairy farming industry has therefore been following a strict quality policy for years. The IKM system (www.ikm.be) guarantees the control of the entire milk supply chain. The participants are following a strict specification book in which the focus is very much on the health and well-being of the animals, milk extraction, hygiene and environment. Besides these modules, factors such as good agricultural policy and extra controls on several possible contaminators are added.