STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University says it has already taken all the cheese orders it can handle for the holiday season.
The Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station’s dairy processing plant has been making cheese for 83 years. The original plan was to take this year’s holiday orders until mid-November.
But, the university said in a news release Wednesday that a software system failure has brought ordering to a halt. The 15,000 existing orders will be fulfilled and should be delivered as expected. But the system cannot take any more orders for now.
“We extend a heartfelt apology to our loyal customer base,” said Keith Coble, vice president for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine and interim director of the experiment station.
“Mississippi State University cheese has long been a holiday tradition, and this situation is disappointing to all of us at Mississippi State.”
Mississippi State cheese can still be bought on campus in Starkville and at the Bulldog Shop in Meridian. The university says online ordering could resume in January.
The dairy processing plan produces 50,000 balls of Edam cheese a year. It also makes cheese spreads and cheddar, jalapeno and Vallagret cheeses.
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