The MAPAQ, in contravention of its own rules

Photo Yanick Fish
The owner of the cheese factory, The Sheepish, Lucille Giroux, has won over fifty awards from the American Cheese Society and is still waiting for its first award Selection Caseus.

Yanick Fish

Saturday, 21 October, 2017 23:11

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Saturday, 21 October, 2017 23:11

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The ministry of Agriculture has violated its own regulations in awarding the prize Selection Caseus, awarded to the best cheeses of Quebec, by awarding a trophy to a product that should not even be presented in the final.

Lucille Giroux, the owner of the cheese factory, The sheep-like of Sainte-Hélène-de-Chester, in the Centre-du-Québec, does not intend to participate again in the competition Caseus.

“This is not very serious from a competition like this, to win a cheese that should not have been being among the finalists “, she says.

On 12 September, the Ministry awarded a Caseus at the cheese factory The Detour for its Flower, sheep in the category of sheep’s cheeses, bloomy rind, at a ceremony held at the Museum of civilization of Québec.

Not enough points

However, at the consultation of the documents relating to the contest, we learned that the cheese in question was not obtained, during the preliminary round, the 80 points needed to pass the final.

This round consists of an individual assessment and the blind made by the members of the jury.

This is only a few days after the awards ceremony that Ms. Giroux noted the irregularity.

“I noticed with amazement that my cheese was the only one of its class to have earned the 80 points. It is, therefore, to say that he would have been chosen by acclamation, ” she said. I immediately notified the Department that it didn’t work. “

Mea culpa

The spokesperson of the MAPAQ, Melissa Lapointe, has reported a human error “inattention” in order to explain the decision to honour a cheese decommissioned.

It ensures that the real winner, the Hay smell of Mrs. Giroux, will get the visibility to which he is entitled on the contest website, as well as in the media.

We promised to send a trophy to the sheep-like, and to take measures to prevent such a blunder from happening again.

“There are meetings, currently, in order to review certain procedures. We want to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. There goes the credibility of the contest “, statue-t-it.

The cheese factory, The Detour will retain all the same price, the two cheeses are considered a tie by the Department.