Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where can I purchase your cheese?

A: Retailers and restaurants across the country are purveyors of our products. Many businesses purchase our cheeses through specialty food distributors, a necessary and valuable function in the supply chain. When working with distributors, we often are not aware of the "final destination" of our cheeses. Your best bet is to ask for our cheeses by brand name (i.e. Roth Buttermilk Blue® or Kaltbach Cave-aged Le Gruyère®) — your cheesemonger should be able to source any of our cheeses for you. Alternatively, visit our E-shop to purchase our products.

Q: When is the best time to visit?

A: Our Wisconsin cheesemakers get an early start to the day, so the best time to catch some action in the viewing hall is between 9:00am to 1:00pm. The Alp and Dell Store and Emmi Roth USA Viewing Hall Hours: 

Monday – Friday: 9:00am – 6:00pm
Saturday: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday: 10:00am – 5:00pm

The store and viewing hall are closed on New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Q: Are your cheeses suitable for vegetarians?

A: The main concern for vegetarians is the type of rennet, or coagulant, that is utilized in the cheesemaking process. The majority of Roth domestic cheeses, including varieties such as; Grand Cru®, Buttermilk Blue®, GranQueso® and Havarti are crafted with vegetarian rennet from GMO-free micro-organisms. Many of our imported Emmi of Switzerland cheeses, including varieties, such as; Kaltbach Cave-aged Le Gruyère®, Le Gruyère Switzerland® AOC and Appenzeller®, are traditionally crafted with animal rennet and are therefore not suitable for vegetarians. If you have any questions about a particular variety, please feel free to drop us a line:info@emmirothusa.com.

Q: Are Emmi Roth USA Cheeses Gluten-Free?

A: We take numerous precautions to inhibit cross-contamination of allergens, including gluten, during the production and packaging of our cheeses. All of the cheeses produced by Emmi Roth USA fall below the FDA's proposed definition for gluten free products of 20 ppm (parts per million). In fact, all of Emmi Roth USA cheeses are below the detectable threshold for gliadin (the detectable component of gluten) of 5 ppm.

The blue mold cultures used to make our blue-veined cheeses are grown on bread that contains gluten. The mold incubation process and subsequent purification of the culture reduces the amount of gluten in the cheese cultures. In the cheese making process, a small amount of this culture (approximately 100 mg per 200 liters of milk) is used per vat, resulting in further dilution.

Testing of the finished product has shown that all of Emmi Roth USA blue-veined cheeses have less than the detectable limit of 5 ppm of gliadin (the detectable component of gluten). This is far below the FDA's proposed definition for gluten free products of 20 ppm. Testing covered the manufacturing processes for our range of blue-veined cheeses, which include: Buttermilk Blue®, Buttermilk Blue® Affinée, MezzaLuna® Gorgonzola and Moody Blue®.