Michael Costello, a research technologist at Washington State University, spent two weeks in El Salvador as a volunteer with Winrock International. Costello helped small-scale cheesemakers learn techniques that would enable them to become more competitive in the lucrative gourmet cheese market, which in El Salvador is dominated by imports.
Through Winrock's Farmer-to-Farmer Program, volunteer Michael Costello, recipient of the Bronze President's Volunteer Service Award, shared his knowledge of cheesemaking technologies with Salvadorans. High efficiency, quality, and export standards have been large obstacles for small manufacturers. Additionally, more marketable cheese varieties are needed to fill critical niche markets and make the sales needed to sustain and grow cheesemaking enterprises.
Costello worked with ANPROLAC, an association of 35 dairies. He introduced safe, modern cheesemaking processes, including the use of commercial cultures to replace unpasteurized milk. Twenty cheesemakers learned to produce commercial-grade mozzarella. Consistency is vital to successfully reproducing traditional cheeses as specialty foods and building markets for these high-value products. Improved production processes and quality are moving Salvadoran cheesemakers closer to meeting requirements for exports to financially rewarding U.S. and other large markets.
One cheesemaker Costello trained, Josefa Moran (see photo), subsequently traveled to the United States to learn more about cheesemaking technologies at an annual course offered by Washington State University. Now she works with ANPROLAC member companies to share her knowledge of quality standards and formulas for different cheese varieties. Her family's cheesemaking business-once in danger of closing-is now expanding, and recently opened a new store in downtown Sonsonate.
Of his assignment in El Salvador, Costello said, "I accomplished all I possibly could have hoped for and more. We not only reproduced acceptable Salvadoran cheese using safe, modern methods, but surpassed anything currently available. We also introduced a new cheese, Mexican-style queso fresco, and taught cheesemakers how to manufacture restaurant-grade mozzarella."
