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city · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 3370 Location: Larnaca area

Food firm cheesed off over ruling

A North Yorkshire food producer has revealed her disappointment after an EU ruling stopped her using the name "feta" on her locally-produced cheese. ....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/4374376.stm

Marina2005 · Joined: 18 Aug 2005 Posts: 1603 Location: Limassol, Cyprus

Silly question but don't they make "feta" in Cyprus???? I'm am sure companies like Christis makes "feta", how come thats allowed??

Dhavlos · Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 4697 Location: Birmingham

Hmmm.... its a tricky one, but if you say feta...you usually expect it to come from greece.

THe same kind of thing happened with a danish company and cypriot halloumi.

Why does she not justcall it yorkshire goats cheese?or something new...invent it herself and get a patent! lol

city · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 3370 Location: Larnaca area

Marina2005 wrote: Silly question but don't they make "feta" in Cyprus???? I'm am sure companies like Christis makes "feta", how come thats allowed??

yes, they do that in Cyprus as well. We have Feta here in Germany also but I never really checked where it is produced...

I know the halloumi case Dhavlos is refering to.

I guess its only something else the EU is spending time and money on, instead of looking into more important issues.

Marina2005 · Joined: 18 Aug 2005 Posts: 1603 Location: Limassol, Cyprus

Some just told me it might write "feta type" on the packet!! Worth a look next time I by some.

Crash Test Dummy · Joined: 25 Sep 2005 Posts: 4911 Location: London(ish)

I heard that Pittas was the only firm allowed to export haloumi from cyprus. Is this true?

Dhavlos · Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 4697 Location: Birmingham

from what i see in the supermarkets...thats true!

cannedmoose · Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:01 pm Post subject:

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=22546&archive=1

Quote: CYPRIOT cheesemakers were yesterday taking stock of Tuesday’s decision by the European Court of Justice to reserve the name ‘feta’ for specific Greek dairy manufacturers.

The landmark ruling means that local dairies can no longer market the white salty goat’s cheese traditionally made in Cyprus under the name ‘feta’.

Athos Pittas of Pittas Dairies said the company was due to meet yesterday to discuss the issue. The name must be changed by January 2007. “We need to discuss what to do,” he said, adding that he had not yet had time fully to look into Tuesday’s court ruling.

Panicos Hadjicostas, the managing director of Christis Dairies, said: “This product has been registered as a Greek product and we have to comply with it and we will be the first to do so.”

Hadjicostas said Christis would not be using the name ‘feta’ from 2007, nor any name similar. “We want to play a fair game and be fair to our Greek colleagues, and we don’t want to make a fuss about it,” he said. “Our quality is there and we have to convince people that this is our ‘feta’ but without the official name.”

Bananiot · Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 1214 Location: Nicosia

Probably feta was produced in Cyprus much earlier than Greece. I heard that it was produced initially by a family called Feta and that there was a village with a similar name. Its tough luck now, our mother country has taken the bite off our mouth.

brother · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 8920 Location: London/Cyprus

Bananiot wrote: Probably feta was produced in Cyprus much earlier than Greece. I heard that it was produced initially by a family called Feta and that there was a village with a similar name. Its tough luck now, our mother country has taken the bite off our mouth.

Is that all its taken?????? :wink:

cannedmoose · Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:31 pm Post subject:

I'm sure that had it been the Turks claiming rights over ownership of a product name, the Cypriot government and producers would be up in arms. But since it's Greece... all is forgiven... for God's sake, even people in Yorkshire are upset about this... :D

brother · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 8920 Location: London/Cyprus

cannedmoose wrote: I'm sure that had it been the Turks claiming rights over ownership of a product name, the Cypriot government and producers would be up in arms. But since it's Greece... all is forgiven... for God's sake, even people in Yorkshire are upset about this... :D

Hehehehehe......exactley and watch out they don't steal 'zivania' from us too. :wink:

cannedmoose · Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:36 pm Post subject:

brother wrote: Hehehehehe......exactley and watch out they don't steal 'zivania' from us too. :wink:

I'll be first in line to defend that one... :shock:

Bananiot · Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 1214 Location: Nicosia

Actually this is quite interesting if you make a parallel with the furore over the naming of FYRof Macedonia. Is a name given to a country or a city or even a village, legally protected? How many cities in the US are named Athens? Should the Greek state declare war ...? If the name feta or indeed halloumi is protected don't names of places deserve protection?

petethegreek · Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 971 Location: Londino, Anglia

cannedmoose wrote: I'm sure that had it been the Turks claiming rights over ownership of a product name, the Cypriot government and producers would be up in arms. But since it's Greece... all is forgiven... for God's sake, even people in Yorkshire are upset about this... :D

As you mentioned Yorkshire, do they have copy write on their puddings?