A win for Greek feta

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Oct 26th 2005 @ 6:14PM

The European Court of Justice recently ruled in favor of Greek feta cheese makers, deciding that only cheeses made in Greece can use the name feta. The decision comes as bad news to other cheese producers in countries such as Germany and the U.K. who feel that the name applies to the process and technique and not just the historical origin. Still, the EU upholds that what makes feta unique, aside from technique, is the grazing conditions of ewes and goats in Greece.

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Filed Under: Business, Newspapers, Ingredients
Tags: cheese, mediterranean

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-27-2005 @2:29AM Charmander Jones said... Shifty...

Consider that feta cheese is one of the oldest cheeses invented and its Greek origins are disputed:

http://www.cliffordawright.com/history/feta.html

Basically Greek feta makers are making a EU power grab to clobber feta makers in other EU member countries. A EU-sponsored feta monopoly if you will.

I hope the European Court of "Justice" will be appropriately neutralized by the flood of copycat lawsuits which will certainly follow from every other food maker trying to gain an advantage over their competitors.

Don't forget the loss for EU consumers as the price of feta rises as non-Greek feta makers incur costs such as altering packaging and reduction in sales.

Imagine the resulting chaos in America: "Supreme Court rules only restaurants in Buffalo, NY can use the term buffalo wings".

Dumb...

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