Danish exporters have been caught red-handed selling cheese illegally branded as ‘feta’ overseas, in the latest twist in the long-running battle between Greece and Denmark over Europe's most controversial dairy product.
The European Commission has now demanded the Danes stop selling the cheese to non-EU countries as feta in a formal complaint.
Only Greek feta can be labelled feta under EU law, which defines it as a brined cheese made in Greece from sheep milk, sometime mixed with up to 30 percent of goat’s milk.
The Danish variant is made using chemically blanched cow milk and is smoother, creamier and less apt to crumble. It is now sold in Denmark as “salad cubes” or “white cheese”.
Feta cheese is considered the “white gold” of Greece’s economy. The country produces about 120,000 tons of feta every year, while the total domestic production of sheep and goat milk is about 1.1 million tons annually.
Europe's most controversial cheese was added to the EU’s list of protected food products in 2002 after a protracted court tussle between Denmark and Greece.
The list ensures that, for example, only sparkling white wine produced in the Champagne region of France can be called champagne in the EU. On Tuesday, Traditional Welsh Caerphilly cheese was added to the list of protected products.
The commission has accused Danish companies of using the feta name when exporting to countries outside of the EU.
"The registered, protected designation of origin 'feta' is being used illegally in Denmark, where certain companies which produce or import white cheese are exporting it to third countries misleadingly marked as 'feta'," the European Commission wrote to the Danish government.
"Since feta became protected as a Greek product, we have complied with the relevant laws. But we have naturally acted differently in areas where it is not protected," Denmark’s Dairies Association chairman Jørgen Hald Christensen told the Altinget newspaper.
Protected products must also not be sold using protected names, such as Parma Ham, to countries with trade agreements with the EU.
In 2013, the EU struck a deal with Canada in which feta made in Canada would be called "feta-style" cheese, and would not have any labelling featuring or suggesting Greece. Brussels has also locked horns with American producers of feta.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
