A Berkeley startup developing plant-based cheese alternatives was told it had won an award in an annual food tasting contest, beating out traditional cheese makers. Then someone complained, and a food fight ensued.
Last year, Climax Foods entered its blue cheese product into an annual competition which is hosted by the Good Food Foundation, an organization based in San Francisco.
The startup's cheeses are completely dairy free, but it was allowed to submit its blue cheese alternative to compete side-by-side against traditional cheese products.
By January, Climax was named as a finalist and then told, confidentially, that it had actually won the award in its category. The celebratory mood didn't last very long, though.
The foundation reversed its decision after being "tipped off" that Climax's blue cheese might not meet all of the contest's regulations, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
AgFunderNews first reported that Climax had been disqualified on Saturday.
"I guess they bowed to the pressure," Climax founder and CEO Oliver Zahn told me. Then "they made up some arbitrary rule, a year after the submission deadline."
The Good Food Foundation's Executive Director Sarah Weiner declined to comment.
So, how did Climax go from being crowned the winner to being disqualified?
The issue seems to hinge on an ingredients label and so-called retail readiness.
Zahn said there was a miscommunication about the ingredients used in its blue cheese.
An old label was submitted that listed kokum butter — which is not approved for food use in the U.S. — but Climax had actually switched to cocoa butter, an approved ingredient according to the Food and Drug Administration's classification of foods that are generally regarded as safe, or GRAS, in some versions of the product.
Climax currently sells its products through more than a dozen restaurants and delis such as the Butcher's Son in Berkeley, Twelvemonth in Burlingame and Eleven Madison Park in New York City.
Zahn said he suggested a new, separate category for Climax's products so they wouldn't have to compete with traditional cheese makers.The foundation also floated allowing two entries to share the award as a compromise, the Washington Post reported.
Ultimately, no compromise was reached and Climax was disqualified.
Zahn is unhappy with the way the foundation handled the whole situation, but he remains optimistic about Climax's ability to create better non-dairy alternatives and bring consumers another choice.
"We want to demonstrate that there is an alternative to dairy that is very viable, that doesn't come at any sacrifice in terms of taste, and is nutritionally superior and cheaper to produce," Zahn told me during an interview last week at Climax's headquarters and research laboratory in Berkeley. "We're going to prove that with the cheese and probably some other products. And then also continue doing research on other product categories. A lot of our research here has applications even beyond food."
In addition to its blue cheese product, Climax has also developed feta, brie and mozzarella alternatives.
During a tour of the company's laboratory last week, I was given samples of all four alternative cheese products. The experience left me impressed by the semblance to their traditional counterparts.
Despite being disqualified by the foundation, Zahn praised the contest's judges for making a bold statement with their initial decision.
"Kudos to the judges of the Good Food Awards, who were brave to crown us as as (sic) the first plant based ... finalists and even *winners* in the cheese category, purely based on how delicious our products are," Zahn wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday.
The Good Food Foundation received more than 1,650 applications across 18 categories for this year's tasting competition, according to a press release from January. It is expected to announce the winners Monday evening.
