British fromage beats 2,600 entries to secure top award at competition for first time in a decade.

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

We may not be able to afford aircraft for our aircraft carriers but Britain can still stand proud in the international community – thanks to cheese.

A British fromage has won the top award at the World Cheese Awards for the first time in a decade.

The Cornish Cheese Company won with its Cornish blue, which beat 2,600 entries from 26 countries. Philip Stansfield, who made the cheese, said: "I'm overwhelmed. It's an honour to win an award for such a prestigious competition."

The 14-strong judging panel included Alex James, the former bass player of Blur who writes about cheese for the Guardian, and international food experts.

The awards also broke a Guinness World Record for creating the largest cheese board, which measured 6m by 3m and weighed 1,201kg.

A spokeswoman for the World Cheese Awards said the victory would be a boost to the British cheese industry. The winner will receive help and advice for a year on marketing their product from the Guild of Fine Foods and the World Cheese Awards.

On one calculation, there are 11.4 variants of cheese for every million Britons, compared with 9.6 in Switzerland and 9.2 in France. Last year, the British Cheese Awards' Juliet Harbutt told the FT that Britons now have 700 choices, while the French have only 600.