Coon Cheese renamed: Saputo fails to provide details over name change
Canadian dairy giant Saputo said it would axe the Coon cheese name but nearly a month on, the processor isn’t clear over how the brand change will take place.
SAPUTO has failed to outline when its Coon cheese brand will be discontinued, despite a blaze of publicity over dropping the brand last month.
The Canadian dairy giant decided “to retire the Coon brand name” after a decades-long effort to rename the cheese, including an unsuccessful 1999 complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Indigenous activist Stephen Hagan led the 1999 action and revived his bid to axe the brand last month, writing a direct appeal to Saputo chief Lino Saputo jnr, who endorsed the name
change.
The Weekly Times asked Saputo, which produces the cheese at its Allansford factory near Warrnambool, to outline what date it planned to discontinue using the name.
Saputo spokeswoman Debbie Jones was also asked to explain how long it would take between the discontinuation of the brand and for Coon labelled products not to appear on supermarket shelves. She failed to respond.
It is understood names referencing the region of production — such as Allansford cheese or Hopkins River cheese — are being considered by Saputo management.
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