The European Union and the U.S. government are locked in trade talks over cheese — specifically, varieties such as Gorgonzola, feta, Muenster and Parmesan.
The EU wants to ban the use of European names for American-made cheeses as they cut into the sales and identity of the original, European cheeses. The EU argues that "Parmesan" should be used only for cheeses made in Parma, Italy. And while "feta" isn't a place in Greece, the cheese is so uniquely tied to a Greek identity that the EU argues only cheese from that country should be distinguished with the name.
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The EU would not disclose exactly what their cheesy proposal would entail, or if it would be discussed this week at a round of EU-U.S. free trade agreement talks in Brussels. Trade negotiations over cheese may seem trivial, but they are important for the EU economy: the ability to exclusively sell the continent's traditional products could help the countries, Greece especially, pull themselves out of recession.
Naturally, U.S. dairy producers, cheesemakers and food companies who participate in the $4 billion industry are fighting the EU's attempts to clamp down on its regional cheeses as they believe the U.S. popularized them.
“It’s really stunning that the Europeans are trying to claw back products made popular in other countries,” Jim Mulhern, president of the National Milk Producers Federation, an organization that represents U.S. dairy farmers, told the Associated Press.
Similarly, a group of 55 U.S. senators find the EU's request hard to swallow. Led by New York Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pennsylvania Senator Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., the group wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to urge them not to agree to any EU proposals because of the potential impact the request would have on small business owners.
“Muenster is Muenster, no matter how you slice it,” Schumer told the AP.
Although U.S. business owners and select parts of the U.S. have come out and noted their opposition to the EU's request, it's not an uncommon one. Canada and Central America have recently agreed to similar demands from the EU in restricting European cheese names to those from Europe.
In Canada, it's "feta-like" or "feta-style": Canada and the EU agreed that "feta" only comes from Greece.
Whichever side of the cheese debate you land on, it raises interesting ideas on authenticity and a country's unique product. For someone like Errico Auricchio, president of BelGioioso Cheese in Green Bay, who has produced cheese with his family in Italy until he brought his trade to the United States in 1979, the situation is a complicated one — but one that finds him siding with the U.S.
“We have invested years and years making these cheeses,” Auricchio told the AP. “You cannot stop the spreading of culture, especially in the global economy.”
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