A cheese made at First Milk’s Haverfordwest Creamery has been crowned Best British & Irish Creamery Cheddar at this year’s Global Cheese Awards.

The creamery’s Extra Mature Cheddar secured the prestigious title after taking gold in its class, providing a particular highlight in another successful year for First Milk at the awards.

The win saw First Milk retain the Best British & Irish Creamery Cheddar title and formed part of an impressive 26-medal haul for cheeses produced at its Haverfordwest and Lake District creameries.

Across the two sites, First Milk collected nine gold, nine silver and eight bronze medals, recognising the consistently high standard of cheese produced by its creamery teams using milk supplied by the co-operative’s farmer members.

Judging at the Global Cheese Awards follows traditional criteria, with only one gold, one silver and one bronze medal awarded in each class. With the creamery block Cheddar categories attracting strong competition, every medal represents a significant achievement.

First Milk Customer Quality Manager Jack Eade said: “We’re particularly delighted to see our Extra Mature Cheddar from Haverfordwest named Best British & Irish Creamery Cheddar. Retaining this title is a fantastic achievement and a real testament to the skill and commitment of everyone involved.

“It would be easy to take our success at these awards for granted, but every medal is hard won. Achievements like these reflect the consistency and care going into our cheese making, alongside the high-quality milk supplied by our farmer members.

“Everyone at Haverfordwest, and across First Milk, can be extremely proud of this recognition,” he added.

First Milk is a British dairy farmers’ co-operative, owned by around 700 farming families across the UK. They produce a range of tasty, nutritious, high-quality dairy products, for retail, foodservice and food manufacturing customers in the UK and internationally.