Feta cheese ruling has Danish dairy industry in a spin
The tangy white cheese, traditionally made from goats' or sheep's milk, is a central ingredient in Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern cuisine.
But three quarters of the world's feta is produced outside Greece, with Danish firms alone accounting for 25,000 tonnes a year. Greece makes five times more feta than Denmark, but about 95% of its 120,000 tonnes output is for the domestic market, where the average consumer eats around 12 kilos (26 pounds) a year.
Danish cheese makers' have battled against the EU Commission for 15 years to keep their right to use the feta name. Now, the Commission has ruled that all non-Greek feta producers have five years to switch to another name, which is estimated to cost the Danish dairy industry 200 million.
The Danish Dairy Association immediately vowed to challenge the ruling in the European Court of Justice. Keld Winther Rasmussen, head of the Association's policy unit, said "Greece cannot have the exclusive right to the name feta, which is not even Greek but Italian."
The Commission's decision effectively grants the geographically-exclusive status already enjoyed by French champagne and Italian Parma ham.
But Danish producers warn it could open the floodgates to a series of damaging rulings on other cheeses such as brie, camembert and gouda.
all currently sold under their respective names outside the regions claiming their origins.
For Irish cheese manufacturers, the possibility of the row widening to include cheddar and other main cheese varieties could be a long-term worry.
