Wisconsin hosts the largest dairy competition in the world

The largest technical cheese, butter and yogurt competition in the world started on Tuesday in Wisconsin, with a record 3,667 entries from 26 nations.

The 55 judges taste, sniff and inspect the 132 classes of dairy products during the biennial World Championship Cheese Contest.

The judges include cheese graders, cheese buyers, dairy science professors, and researchers from 19 nations and 14 states.

The last time the competition was held in 2018, a hard sheep's milk cheese called Esquirrou made in France at Mauleon Fromagerie won top honours. It is imported by Savencia Cheese USA.

This year's winner will be announced on Thursday.

One judge and 30 people from a Japanese university could not attend because the university didn't allow international travel due to the new coronavirus, according to Rebekah Sweeney, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, which organizes the event.

There will be extra hand-washing stations and hand sanitizers for the judges "out of an abundance of good intention", she said. Otherwise, the virus was not expected to affect the competition, she said.