After winning numerous awards on the showbench for their much sought after cheeses, Fivemiletown Creamery has now been awarded the International ISO 14001 Environmental Standard.

Awarded to companies who can clearly demonstrate effective controls with regard to their impact on the environment, Fivemiletown Creamery has shown that their use of natural resources, handling and treatment of waste and energy consumption is of the required standard with the aim of reducing the environmental footprint of a business and to decrease the pollution and waste a business produces.

In order for an organisation to be awarded an ISO 14001 certificate they must be externally audited. Cheshire based Knight International carried out the audit in December and were full of praise for the high achievement the company attained.

Commenting on achieving the award, managing Director Mervyn McCaughey commented, "Implementing an Environmental Management System is a systematic way to discover and control the effects our business has on the environment. Cost savings can be made through improved efficiency and productivity. These are achieved by detecting ways to minimise waste and dispose of it more effectively and by learning how to use energy more efficiently. It also verifies compliance with current legislation. By being based in the centre of our town all these things are important to us.' Fivemiletown Creamery is over 112 years old and is owned by local dairy farmers. It exports its products across the globe. In 2009 it was awarded over 20 international quality and taste awards for its cheese and added Supplier of the Year awards from Sainsbury's to their achievements.

Sales manager Kevin McManus commented, "2009 was a fantastic year for the business. We now supply our products across the world from New York to Hong Kong. Being the only cheese company in Ulster who can truly claim provenance and cheesemaker skill, we are looking forward to another successful year in 2010. Our products rank amongst the best in the world as rated by international judges consistently over the years and this demonstrates the care with which our staff craft our cheese."