Hilmar Cheese Company is a

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

and

whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard ...

products manufacturer headquartered in

Hilmar, California Hilmar is an unincorporated community in Merced County, California, United States. It is located west-southwest of Delhi, spanning and at an elevation of above sea level. For census purposes, Hilmar is aggregated with a nearby community into ...

, United States. The

privately owned company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

has over 1000 employees and specializes in the mass production of

Monterey jack Monterey Jack, sometimes shortened to Jack, is a Californian white, semi-hard cheese made using cow's milk, with a mild flavor and slight sweetness. It has been called "an American original" and "as a vestige of Spanish rule in the early nineteen ...

, pepper jack, colby,

colby-jack Colby-Jack, or Co-jack/Cojack, is an American cheese made from Colby and Monterey Jack. It is classified as semi-hard in texture and is mild due to its two-week aging process. It is generally sold in a full-moon or a half-moon shape when it is ...

, flavored jacks,

mozzarella Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...

, Hispanic and

cheddar cheese Cheddar cheese (or simply cheddar) is a natural cheese that is relatively hard, off-white (or orange if colourings such as annatto are added), and sometimes sharp-tasting. Cheddar originates from the English village of Cheddar in Somerset. Ched ...

. As of 2011, Hilmar Cheese processes two million gallons of

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

per day, producing over two million pounds of cheese per day. The company's Hilmar facility produces more cheese per year from a single site than any other cheese manufacturer in the world.

History

The company was founded in 1984 by 12 families located in

; it began production in 1985. Hilmar Ingredients, a division of Hilmar Cheese Company, was founded in 2004 to market the company's whey products to the world. It currently produces over half a million pounds of

whey protein Whey protein is a mixture of proteins isolated from whey, the liquid material created as a by-product of cheese production. The proteins consist of α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, serum albumin and immunoglobulins. Glycomacropeptide also makes ...

and

lactose Lactose is a disaccharide sugar synthesized by galactose and glucose subunits and has the molecular formula C12H22O11. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of milk (by mass). The name comes from ' (gen. '), the Latin word for milk, plus the suffix '' - ...

powder per day and ships to over 40 countries worldwide. In March 2006, Hilmar cheese settled a lawsuit with the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board over alleged violations of process water treatment and waste discharge. The settlement amounted to $3 million, most of which will be put toward an environmental study. However, it allows the company to continue with its current process water discharge. In 2007, Hilmar Cheese opened a cheese and

processing plant in

Dalhart, Texas Dalhart is a city in Dallam and Hartley counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and the county seat of Dallam County. The population was 7,930 at the 2010 census. History Founded in 1901, Dalhart is named for its location on the border of Dalla ...

. This plant is the company’s first processing plant outside its

, facility and corporate headquarters. In 2014, Hilmar Cheese opened a

milk powder Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...

processing plant in

Turlock, California Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Its estimated 2019 population of 73,631 made it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County after Modesto. History Founded on December 22, 1871, by prominent grain farmer Jo ...

. This plant is the company’s second processing plant outside its

facility and corporate headquarters. On April 17, 2019, Hilmar Cheese entered into an Agreement with California Dairies, Inc. to sell its Turlock milk powder processing plant. In late 2023, Hilmar Cheese is scheduled to open a new $550 Million cheese and

processing plant in

Dodge City, Kansas Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge (US Army Post), Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The c ...

, and groundbreaking is expected to happen in summer 2021.

Programs

Hilmar Cheese also helps their local residential student by rewarding them with scholarships. The student must be involved with the community in volunteering and must be academically advanced and lastly must have financial need. The scholarship program has 3 different categories so that different types of students with different backgrounds can also benefit. First is for the children whose parents work for the Hillmar Cheese Company, the second category is for the students living in agricultural counties and lastly, the third one is for the kids who are dedicated to agriculture, and they do not need to be affiliated with the company. Every year this scholarship is available and 35 students will each be granted $1,500 towards their college fund.

References

External links

*
Settlement with Central Valley Water Control Board
{Dead link, date=January 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Privately held companies based in California Dairy products companies in California Companies based in Merced County, California 1984 establishments in California Food and drink companies established in 1984 American companies established in 1984