From Dave Buholzer

Monroe

To the Editor:

As an owner and Master Cheesemaker at Klondike Cheese Company in Monroe, I am thankful to see State Senator Howard Marklein re-introducing his Truth in Food Labeling legislation to promote dairy product protections in our state.

At Klondike Cheese Co., all of our products contain real dairy milk, and we’re proud of it. Real dairy products, like the award-winning cheese crafted at Klondike Cheese Co., are not only delicious — but also an outstanding source of protein, calcium, vitamins, zinc, phosphorus, and riboflavin. The dairy imitators that are promoted with misleading packaging often only offer a fraction of these nutritional benefits.

Our community members deserve to clearly know what is in the food they buy, yet oftentimes companies misrepresent the actual contents of their food. Senator Marklein’s bill will protect the consumer from deceptive food labeling so that they can clearly know when cheese is real cheese.

Any list of comfort foods will have pizza, mac & cheese, grilled cheese, ice cream, cheese burgers, tacos, French onion soup and many more foods made with real cheese or dairy products ranked toward the top. How comforting would it be not knowing if these items contained the nutritional value of real dairy ingredients.

The next time you are shopping for groceries compare the ingredient and nutritional statements from a carton of real dairy milk with a soy, cashew or oat milk. Do the same with a package of real cheese and one of the plant-based substitutes. The real dairy products will have far fewer ingredients and higher nutritional value than the alternatives.

I know Howard was raised on a dairy farm in Spring Green and has continuously advocated for rural issues in the Legislature. I am grateful for his work promoting this Truth in Food Labeling legislation so that people know when they are buying genuine dairy products here in the cheese state.