UK &#8211, Researchers at the Central Science Laboratory in York are developing tests to ensure cheeses with protected classifications &#8211, such as Blue Stilton &#8211, are authentic. The move is part of a clampdown on food fraud and is designed to help the cheese industry establish just how far reaching the problem is.

Experts are collecting and analysing samples of milk, butter and cheese from a number of British regions in order to identify the chemical pattern &#8211, or fingerprint &#8211, which makes certain products unique.

The majority of cheese traded in the EU is classified according to the region of production and/or the cheesemaking methods used. These different techniques result in a wide range of cheese types, some of which command an enviable reputation and a correspondingly high price. Unscrupulous traders may try to pass off an inferior cheese as a premium product and mislead the consumer, claims the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

The technique could also be used to combat so-called ‘circular trade’ within the EU. When EU-produced butter is exported to a non-EU country it attracts a subsidy payment. It is sometimes relabelled as produce of the third country and re-imported to the EU at a favourable import tax rate. By analysing the origin of butter, this practice could soon be stamped out.

Developed by the FSA, the