There's been some coverage in our regional papers (both the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post) of a debate about whether feta cheese has to come from Greece in order to be called 'feta'. But there's precious little information provided in the articles in order for readers to get a handle on the story - so here's some background.

The ‘Protected Designation of Origin’ scheme is an agreement among all EU countries to identify and protect certain unique local foods across the European common market. As with all EU decisions, the scheme was agreed by elected governments and elected MEPs – not by the Commission, whose job is only to carry out the agreement.

Many UK products are protected in this way – including West Country farmhouse cheddar, Jersey Royal potatoes, and Cornish clotted cream. You can buy a bottle of Newcastle Brown anywhere in Europe and be confident that it really was brewed in Newcastle. The same goes for Normandy camembert, Black Forest ham and so on.

There's currently a debate about whether Greek ‘feta’ cheese should be added to the list of specialities. Britain isn't the only country which thinks ‘feta’ is more of a generic term these days: both Germany and Denmark have also asked the courts to adjudicate, and a judgement is expected later this year. So it's not a feta-ccompli.