Say cheese, not feta, as EU moves to protect brands
Greek salads could be given a Kiwi twist and topped with ‘‘wheta’’ if the European Union restricts the use of regional produce names like feta and gruyere.
The EU has compiled a list of 408 products it wants to protect as part of free trade deals with New Zealand, Australia and other countries.
Claims have been made on more than a dozen cheeses, including gorgonzola, fontina and roquefort.
The list also covers products like Parma ham, grappa and puy lentils. Scotch beef, lamb and whisky, as well as several English cheeses are also listed, although those claims will be dropped if Britain leaves the EU as planned on October 31.
Oamaru-based Whitestone Cheese managing director Simon Berry said banning the use of names like feta could have a significant short-term impact on local businesses.
New Zealand was relatively new to the specialty cheese market and producers had not yet developed their own styles, meaning consumers looked for wellknown international cheese names.
‘‘[A ban] would be detrimental because Kiwis have started to recognise those names,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of our cheeses are named after local places, things like our Fuschia Creek feta, but it is the feta or camembert part of our names people recognise.’’
The products were already protected within the EU under the geographical indications programme, which allowed producers to protect names which were based on a location, provided they could prove its significance, such as the wine regions of Champagne and Bordeaux in France.
If New Zealand agreed to a deal protecting regional produce names, local cheese makers could have to rebrand their products, even if they were made to a traditional recipe.
However, Berry said they might be able to work around the naming issue.
‘‘You could use a bit of sleight of hand and start spelling it ‘wheta’ or ‘fetta’ but until the final deal is done, you won’t know what you are going to be able to get away with.’’
Whatever name the products eventually bore, consumers would begin to recognise them over time, he said.
‘‘I don’t think it will be a huge game changer because they are leaving things like camembert and brie alone.
‘‘It would take a while for renamed products to build up that recognition once they were in the market but it would happen eventually.’’
Berry said the volume of cheap imported cheese flooding into supermarkets was a far bigger concern than what he could or could not call his products.
‘‘The number one speciality cheese in New Zealand is Danish costello and that is driven by price. That is a $4 or $5 cheese going up against Kiwi cheeses at $7 or $8 – smaller local producers can’t compete.’’