Once again the future of the feta production industry outside of Greece – or at least the name of its cheese – is in question with EU solicitor-general Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer announcing that feta fulfils the requirements for Greece’s claimed protected designation of origin status.

The white cheese has become an important commodity outside of Greece with 15,000 tonnes per year produced by Arla Foods alone. This is an output certainly equalled, and probably far-surpassed, by the more secretive Hochland dairy in Germany.

There are, of course, many other producers in the west. In Germany, for instance, total sales are reckoned at over 30,000 t for 2004, representing a 25% increase in consumption over a single year after a 20% increase the previous year. Some manufacturers are already selling the product under other names. Hamdi Ulukaya, president of New York feta maker Euphrates Inc who produced feta in Turkey before moving to the US, said Greece cannot make enough Feta to meet the demand for the cheese, so feta-like cheeses will sell, even if under another name.

He said the product is being marketed in Europe as Balkani cheese and white cheese, while one French producer sells the cheese only under its brand name without even mentioning feta on the label.

Should the European Court of Justice follow Dr Colomer’s reasoning when it is expected to sit on this case at the end of this year, then the name feta will only be permitted to be used for cheese made from sheep and goat milk in Greece.

There is a sizeable ray of hope in the knowledge that the European Court does not always follow the opinions of the EU solicitor-general.