This afternoon at 2:45 p.m., U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will visit Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm to host the Connecticut Cheese Challenge. This is an event that will illustrate the need to protect Connecticut dairy farmers and producers from a European initiative that would change the common names for cheeses that Americans enjoy every day.
Murphy, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs, recently joined his Senate colleagues to urge the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to fight European Union (EU) efforts to prohibit American dairy producers from using dozens of common cheese names. The EU claims that dairy products baring names such as asiago, feta, parmesan, and muenster are “geographical indicators” and can only be appropriately displayed on products made in certain areas of Europe.
During the Connecticut Cheese Challenge, participants will taste two cheeses with the same name and try to identify which cheese is from Connecticut and which is not. Murphy will be joined at the event by local farmers and cheese consumers in the area.
This event is open to the public.
Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm is at 139 BeaverBrook Rd. in Lyme.