* Feta among 1,200 protected EU food and drink names
* U.S. says smacks of protectionism
* Compromise found in EU-Canada trade deal
By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS, July 24 (Reuters) - European Union plans to seal
the world's largest free trade deal with the United States are
threatened by intractable differences over food names, none more
so than the right of cheese makers to use the term "feta".
Negotiators talk of accelerated progress and hope to thrash
out a skeleton agreement on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP) within a year, aiming for a major boost to
growth in the advanced Western economies. ID:nL5N1041JX
But geographical indications (GIs), a 1,200-long list
ranging from champagne to Parma ham, present a major headache.
At the same time as euro zone leaders are ordering Greece to
balance its budget and liberalise its product markets, EU trade
negotiators are fighting to defend its signature cheese.
GIs are a cornerstone of EU agricultural and trade policy,
designed to ensure that only products from a given region can
carry a name. To the United States, it smacks of protectionism.
"It's politically extremely important in Europe. As (the EU)
phases out direct agricultural support, there has to be a
trade-off by promising to do more in trade policy," said Hosuk
Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International
Political Economy.
"For 20 years they have been fighting about it at the World
Trade Organisation even if the economic value is disputed."
EU member states will have to approve any deal and will need
food name protection as compensation for EU farmers facing a
flood of U.S. beef and pork imports.
Agriculture is not a sizeable part of either the EU or the
U.S. economy, but farmers retain political muscle, as French
livestock and dairy producers showed this week by forcing the
government to offer aid after protests including road blockades.
Washington does not object to protection of niche items such
as British Melton Mowbray pork pies. But negotiators face a very
difficult task to find a balance for widely produced feta, Parma
ham or parmesan, the biggest maker of which is America's Kraft
Foods KHC.O .
The EU introduced GIs and designations of origin in 1992,
securing protection for Greek feta, which means "slice", 10
years later when it declared that non-Greek producers' use of
the term was "fraudulent".
6,000 YEAR HERITAGE
It is a view echoed by Christina Onassis, marketing manager
at the Lytras & Sons dairy in central Greece. She describes the
unique plants and microflora of Greece's mountainous regions and
says feta "imitations" mostly use cow's milk.
"For 6,000 years, Greece has produced continuously using
milk from ewes and goats," she said. "We also ripen the cheese
for days, which does not happen in any other feta production."
The issue is about more than just national pride for
near-bankrupt Greece. Its feta exports rose 85 percent between
2007 and 2014 to 260 million euros, and sales to countries
outside the EU more than doubled.
U.S. agricultural and trade experts generally recognise the
region-specific terms such as "Gouda Holland" or "Camembert de
Normandie", meaning that U.S. producers can still make and name
their own gouda and camembert cheeses.
However, they argue that the European Union has gone too far
by including the likes of gorgonzola and feta - terms they say
are not region-specific but generic like cheddar or mozzarella,
which do not have GI status.
"Show me on the map where feta is?" asked one U.S. trade
negotiator.
In fact, under EU law, the feta-producing region covers
almost the whole of the Greek mainland plus the island of
Lesbos. Only milk from here can be called feta.
The European Commission says names can be protected even if
they are not linked to a particular place. Feta, it says, is so
closely connected to Greece as to be identified inherently as a
Greek product.
In 2012 several non-European food producers and
associations, many from across the Americas, formed the
Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN) to fight what they see
as Europe's appropriation of generic food terms.
"There's nothing wrong with GIs, but is something a true GI
or just a method of production?" said CCFN executive director
Jaime Castaneda. "Most consumers do connect feta with Greece,
but most also connect cheddar with England but it does not have
to be made there."
U.S. producers, he says, could lose billions of dollars in
income if they are forced to rename their products.
BATTLE ALREADY UNDERWAY
Even before an EU-U.S. free trade deal, Castaneda says U.S.
businesses are already affected in countries like South Korea,
whose trade accord with Europe includes GI protection.
"It's affecting us substantially in international markets,
such as Korea, by preventing exports," he said. "You see it too
at international food shows in Europe. This is a never-ending
issue."
Ron Buholzer, president of the family-owned Klondike Cheese
Co. in Wisconsin, which makes award-winning feta and muenster
cheeses, shares that view, deeming it outrageous that anyone
would claim sole ownership of these names.
"This is an economic issue for us, certainly, but it's also
personal - it's about what's right and fair," Buholzer said.
The United States says the EU system is unfair because many
American producers of traditional products are immigrants from
Europe or their descendants, such as the Buholzer family.
It also notes that EU members have had doubts.
Both Denmark and Germany took the Commission to court over
its moves to grant Greece the exclusive right to use the name
feta, with initial success in 1999 before losing in 2005.
A compromise was found in the EU-Canada trade accord (CETA),
allowing Canadian producers already making "feta" or
"gorgonzola" to continue doing so, while new entrants would have
to adopt other terms such as "feta-style".
Greece and U.S. dairy exporters have already called this
unacceptable, highlighting the difficulties that lie ahead.