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Fire shutters Bothwell Cheese

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Published: June 3, 2024

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Bothwell Cheese's production facility in New Bothwell, Man. on June 3, 2024.

Production at Bothwell Cheese’s New Bothwell facility remains shut down after a fire on Saturday morning.

All employees were evacuated safely according to a news release from Gay Lea Foods, which owns the southeast Manitoba company.

The fire damage is confined to a section of the cheese production facility, said Mike Langdon, Gay Lea’s vice president of corporate and co-operative affairs. An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

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In an email to the Manitoba Co-operator, he said it was too early to say how long cheese production would be down.

“We are encouraged by our team’s initial inspection,” he said.

Bothwell Cheese’s warehouse is operating and filling customer orders. The Factory Cheese Store is closed, but Langdon said they were optimistic it could be reopened this week.

The production facility typically receives 110,000 litres of milk per day, seven days a week, according to the company’s website. It produces 15,000 kg of cheese per day.

About the author

Geralyn Wichers

Geralyn Wichers

Digital editor, news and national affairs

Geralyn graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2019 and launched directly into agricultural journalism with the Manitoba Co-operator. Her enterprising, colourful reporting has earned awards such as the Dick Beamish award for current affairs feature writing and a Canadian Online Publishing Award, and in 2023 she represented Canada in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists' Alltech Young Leaders Program. Geralyn is a co-host of the Armchair Anabaptist podcast, cat lover, and thrift store connoisseur.

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