Momentum is gathering behind a campaign to get Britain’s annual cheese-rolling contest back on the calendar after the event was cancelled due to safety concerns.

Organisers announced last week that the cheese-rolling contest, held every May in Gloucestershire was being scrapped because it was becoming too popular to ensure safety.

A Facebook group dedicated to reinstating the event has now gathered more than 5,000 signatures and there are plans to gather signatures for a petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

According to local media an emergency meeting is being called to attempt to revive the event, while local council officials are also exploring possibilities.

The event, held every year on the steep grassy slopes of Cooper’s Hill, sees dozens of contestants race after seven pound wheel of double gloucester cheese. The winner of a series of races gets to keep it.

Injuries are commonplace. Last year 58 people — 35 competitors, four catchers at the bottom of the hill and 19 spectators — were hurt, 11 of whom were taken to hospital.

This hiatus can be explained by the pitter-patter of tiny feet at Cheese-Wire HQ, with the arrival of another mouth to feed with cheese. We’re delighted to report our newest member has now matured enough to allow the resumption of cheese news coverage.

So far it’s been a busy year for cheese stories as dairy products become ever popular, and we expect this to continue. So keep checking the Cheese-Wire for updates to find out what’s humming in the wonderful world of Wensleydale, cheddar, brie, emmental, gorgonzola, feta…

Linda Lowe, from South Carolina, says the image of the man hailed by many as the son of God appeared on a savoury snack prepared by her boyfriend shortly before Christmas.

Although news of the holy toast only made the local Spartanburg Herald-Journal this week, Jesus — portrayed with the traditional long hair and beard — is still visible on the sandwich.

Lowe told the paper she had no intention of destroying or eating the snack as it was a daily reminder of her Christian faith.

“I wouldn’t ever want to say I think it’s divine or anything about it is magical,” she said. “It’s just an image. But when I do look at it, it does make me feel tearful. That there is a Jesus and he is real.”

Cheese-wire earlier this year reported on another case in the United States where a woman says she found a piece of cheese shaped like Mother Teresa.

Not, however, Mexican artist Raul Ortega Ayala, who served cheese made from milk donated by a woman at the launch of an exhibition at a gallery in London.

Ayala’s creation was served with crackers at the David Roberts Art Foundation before a screening of his “At Your Service” video.

The edible artwork — designed to “explore our first encounter with food” — was titled Alejandra Ortiz-Reynosos, after the woman who donated to milk.

A spokesperson for the exhibition told the Express newspaper that the cheese is made “in the normal way — it’s just a standard process.”

There are no known commerically available cheeses made from breast milk. A web site advertising a French farm — Le Petit Singly — said to use human ingredients in its cheese production, is believed to be a hoax,

Last year a restaurant in Switzerland announced it would be serving dishes using human breast milk as an ingredient, although cheese was not on the menu. A similar venture in China’s Hunan province was closed down in 2003 by horrified health officials.

Kristy Lynn Hammonds and Michael Anthony Setzer have been charged with distributing prohibited foods after footage of what appears to be Setzer shoving cheese up his nostril appeared on YouTube.

The pair insist the video was a hoax, but both have been fired from a branch of the fast food outlet in Conover, North Carolina, after the video — in which the man also appears to break wind on a piece of salami — went public.

As the apparent tampering took place, a voice can be heard on the video saying: “In about five minutes it’ll be sent out on delivery where somebody will be eating these, yes, eating them, and little did they know that cheese was in his nose and that there was some lethal gas that ended up on their salami.”

Dominos has responded with its own YouTube video in which president Patrick Doyle apologizes, describing it as an “isolated incident”. The company insists there is no evidence any customers were served food that had been tampered with.

“There is nothing more important or sacred to us than our customers trust,” Doyle said.

“It sickens me that the acts of two individuals could impact our great system.”

Unscrupulous cheese vendors have been offloading their tainted produce in parking lots outside stores and churches in the Winnebago area of Illinois, west of Chicago, local authorities say.

A cluster of gastrointestinal illness cases are being treated that appear to be connected to the consumption of the cheese made by mystery unlicensed vendors,

The Winnebago County Health Department says testing of samples of the Mexican-style white cheese was ongoing, but laboratory investigations had already detected listeria.

“We are concerned about people who may have this illegally manufactured cheese and may become ill from consuming it,” Mike Bacon, Administrator of Winnebago County Health Department, said in a statement.

Officials, who say the victims are all Hispanic, are now warning all cheese consumers in the area to ensure they only purchase labeled produce from reputable stores.

Though it does not usually lead to serious illness in healthy children and adults, listeria can cause muscle aches, nausea and diarrhea. Infections during pregnancy can trigger miscarriage, stillbirth, early delivery or infection of the newborn.

Friesland Foods, the Dutch company behind the red-waxed cheese, is to support the UK Scout Association’s “chef’s badge”, which youngsters can earn by learning how to cook.

Although the rather bland cheese is not well known for its cooking versatility — and few of the dishes suggested by the Scout Association as potential badge-earners contain cheese — Edam’s makers clearly see it as a great way to market their product.

“We continue to be in a privileged position representing such a well loved brand in the UK,” Friesland spokesperson Elien Zwart-Dijkstra said, according to Marketing Magazine.
“We have a great taste with good nutritional benefits.”

In order to drive their message home, Friesland is also releasing a recipe booklet titled “Edam Made for Eating”, the magazine said. An Edam scouting pack, complete with recipes and and cheese-slanted cookery games, can also be found on the Internet.

Edam, named after a village in the Netherlands, is one of the country’s most recognizeable cheese exports, alongside Gouda. Though it could be unkindly dismissed as rubbery and slightly flavourless ,it is hugely popular worldwide.

While Cheese-wire can appreciate the benefits of introducing youngsters to cheese at such a young age, questions will no doubt be raised over the suitability of Edam as an ambassador for the cheese world.

Let us know what you think?

Wyke Farms, a cheddar manufacturer in the English county of Somerset, has already pulled in more than 500 fans by offering one lucky winner all the cheddar they can handle.

All entrants need to do is sign up to the Wyke Farms  fan page on Facebook. The result will be announced on April 10.

Wyke Farms says it manufacturers 12,000 tonnes of cheese annually, producing its trademark cheddar from the 1902 “traditional farmhouse recipe” of founding family member Ivy Clothier.

Despite claiming to be the UK’s fastest groing cheddar brand, with sales increasing 82 percent year-on-year in 2007, Wyke clearly believes it needs to resort to gimmicks to attract more customers.

The move appears to be popular with fans, who are drooling at the prospect of daily dairy deliveries.

“Oh my god, I can’t imagine what I’d do with all that cheese, I’d be in cheese heaven,” wrote one fan, Polly Hawcroft.

Another, Sarah Eveson, writes: “Please give the cheese to me because i am actually addicted to cheese and would live on it if I could.”

Police in the U.S. city of Philadelphia said Lyndel Toppin’s girlfriend needed 23 stitches after he attacked the 44-year-old woman with a knife, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Toppin “became enraged due to the victim not placing cheese on his hoagie roll correctly,” arrest papers said, according to the report.

He then bit the woman’s arm, and refused to let go, it said,

“It was a barbaric attack,” local police chief Michael Chitwood, told the News.

Toppin, 50, was charged with aggravated and simple assault, reckless endangerment, possessing an instrument of crime and harassment.

Pop star backstage demands have a reputation for the unusual, whether it’s vats of booze, bowls of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed, or dwarves and monkeys.

Now chart-topping singer Lady GaGa has joined their ranks with a strange request for cheese.

The quirky New Yorker, who recently appeared on U.S. TV talent show American Idol, insists on being given an odourless cheese served on ice before performances.

According to The Smoking Gun website, which printed her backstage requirements “rider”, the 25-year-old requires, among other things, a whole roasted chicken, a jar of peanut butter and “one small plate of cheese (non-smelly, non-sweaty) ON ICE.”

Having become the first artist in 10 years to score U.S. number ones with their first two singles — Poker Face and Just Dance — GaGa can no doubt be excused her fromage foibles.

But cheese aficianados will no doubt balk at the idea of cheese served on ice since cold tends to mask the flavour and texture and is generally best served at room temperature.

Finding an odourless cheese will also present problems. Cheese-wire suggests a nice Butterkase — a scent-free but heartily flavoured fromage with a beautiful buttery texture made in Germany, Austria and Wisconsin.