Audio An international food fight (story audio) Photos Making cheese Eileen Eichten Carlson Eichten's cheese View full slideshow (7 images) Resources Eichten's Hidden Acres Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association I Love Cheese.com Cheese Reporter: Column by John Umhoefer American Society of International Law: Background on the issue Your Voice News Forum: What's in a name? Is it silly to have the rights to a cheese name?

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An international food fight
by Nikki Tundel, Minnesota Public Radio
September 15, 2003

What's in a name? Plenty, according to the European Union, which wants to restrict usage of food names such as Gouda, Parmesan and Mozzarella by American cheese producers. (MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel)

One of the many issues left undecided by the collapse of the World Trade Organization talks in Cancun is the fight over food names. The European Union wants the exclusive rights to terms like Feta and Champagne, Gorgonzola and Chablis. E.U. trade officials argue that these and 37 other identifiers belong to small producers in specific regions of Europe. The issue isn't likely to go away anytime soon. And that worries Midwestern cheese makers.

Center City, Minn. — Eileen Eichten Carlson typically begins her day with a bagel, a little Gouda cheese spread, and 4,800 gallons of milk.

Carlson is manager of Eichten's Hidden Acres, which processes cheese and bison in Center City. Each day her factory turns a vat of fresh cow's milk into 480 pounds of cheese.

	Eileen Eichten Carlson

"Mother and dad started this business in 1976. Their dream was to have an American farmer be able to produce and market their product directly from the farm, just as they did in Europe," Carlson says.

For the last 27 years, the company has used traditional European processes to produce its Midwestern cheeses.

But now, the family business finds itself in the middle of an international food fight. The European Union is demanding exclusive rights for 13 regional cheese names, including Parmesan, Feta, and Mozzarella -- all styles the Eichtens sell. If the E.U. gets its way, only cheese makers in Roquefort, France, could label their products as Roquefort, and only cheese made in Rome would be called Romano.

Such restrictions would force big companies like Kraft to spend hundreds of millions of dollars repackaging and rebranding their products. Eichten says if the proposal goes into effect, small producers would be devastated.

"To do new labels for my line of, say, six different Goudas, that's a $20,000 ticket. That's two, three, four, five years to even recover that money," says Carlson.

	Milk vat

Of course, here in the country that brought the world Cheez Whiz, there are some people who would never dream of eating American cheese.

At Surdyk's Gourmet Cheese Shop in Minneapolis, Roquefort arrives weekly from France. And customers have a penchant for the Parmisiano-Reggiano.

"Most of them are like born-again cheese eaters. They'll say, 'I can't believe I ever ate that stuff in the green can.' They're excited to be eating real Parmesan," says Josh, a Surdyk's supervisor.

Josh can see the logic in restricting the use of traditional names. So can shop manager Rosemary Schaeffer.

"There are a lot of cheeses that are really a European tradition. For example, Parmigiano-Reggiano is made in a specific area, from a specific breed of cow, with specific procedures on how it's made. And to me, that represents part of its quality," says Schaeffer.

	Surdyk's Gourmet Cheese Shop

Across the border in Wisconsin, cheese is a $7 billion-a-year industry, and this name-calling business could have significant consequences.

John Umhoefer is the executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. He says the European plan isn't about protecting tradition -- it's about protecting trade. He says terms like "Swiss" and "Asiago" have become generic, and he believes American cheese makers will alienate their customers if they have to come up with entirely new names for their products.

"I think it would be interesting to figure out what a company is saying to you if they say, European-style white cheese instead of Feta. I think that's where you'll lose consumer confidence. People have been making Parmesan in this country, and suddenly to see the green can saying something else would be disconcerting," says Umhoefer.

E.U. producers say if there's confusion in the grocery aisle, too bad. As far as they're concerned, a country that concocted Velveeta has no right to liken its cheeses to European originals.

Lynne Rosetto Kasper, host of the Minnesota Public Radio program The Splendid Table, has worked for years to help protect the Parmigiano-Reggiano name. She says she's often horrified by the things that pass as Parmesan.

	Richfield farmer's market

"It would be like Britney Spears giving her name to someone who could never carry a tune and, if you'll pardon the expression, someone who has a lousy body," she says.

Kasper says older cultures have strong ties to the foods that bear their names.

"There's the difference. We don't look at something as being an important to us as many of the countries in Europe do. Hence, the schism," says Kasper.

On Saturdays, Eileen Eichten Carlson sets up shop at the Richfield farmer's market. For now, she's free to sell all the Feta and Mozzarella she wants. But she says the naming issue is always in the back of her mind.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to call it Center City cheese?" says Carlson. "It's going to be very hard in this country to try to do that. So in a way a don't think they're thinking too good there."

Carlson fears the fight over cheese is just the beginning. And some critics agree. They say we could be heading into a world where restaurants outside of Italy are forbidden from serving Italian food, and Boston cream pie can't be made anywhere but Boston.

It's unclear when the next round in the great name debate will come. But both sides have a lot at stake. Ahh, the power of cheese.

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