Group set up to rename Kiwi cheeses

• Published date: 25 April 2024
• Publication title: Te Awamutu Courier

The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent in Parliament on Monday and will come into force on May 1

As part of the deal, almost 2000 EU geographical indications will be protected in NZ, including some common cheese names, like feta and gorgonzola.

New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association chairman Simon Lamb said they had seven years to come up with alternative names.

“What we’re going to do as a wider industry is set up a group that will come up with new names for the cheeses that we have to change.

“We potentially, in the long term, are looking to put our own geographical indications on the names we come up with, which would only be made with NZ milk in NZ so we could use this to our advantage.”

Lamb said as part of the free-trade deal, the EU could actually add new geographical indicators to the list.

“That’s the concern — this is just the start. There’s...