By Stephen Vance, Staff
Bill’s Valu-mart joined with more than 360 Loblaw banner stores that set a new Guinness World Record over the weekend for the most Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese wheels cracked simultaneously.
Parmigiano Reggiano is a hard Italian cheese produced in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena or Bologna, using the same recipe for almost 1,000 years. 11 steps are required to crack a 34-kilogram cheese wheel in the traditional style and requires special cheese cracking knives and training.
The event was a success with 1008 wheels cracked simultaneously at the 360 locations,on Saturday March 22, smashing the old record of 426 set in 2013.
Meaford’s Valu-mart cracked two of those wheels.
“For our part we cracked two wheels as part of the total record setting total. In order to qualify for the record attempt very specific processes are required. A special four knife set is required, the wheels must be cracked simultaneously at each location, and the clock, the wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano, the people cracking the wheels, and the knives must all be visible in the photo. We were also required to have two unbiased witnesses, complete with witness statements,” said Bill MacDonald, owner of Meaford’s Valu-mart location.
