EU trade deal: Industry group set up to rename some NZ-made cheeses

As part of the deal, almost 2000 EU geographical indications will be protected in New Zealand, including some common cheese names, like gorgonzola. Photo / Pexels / Anna Nekrashevich

By Sally Murphy of RNZ

The cheese industry is setting up a group to help rename some New Zealand-made cheeses now the European Union Free Trade Deal has been ratified.

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 New Zealand, 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 New Zealand milk in New Zealand, 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 in the future.

“That’s the concern - this is just the start. There’s a number of them sitting in the background; it will be really interesting to see if they make a push for parmesan, because they haven’t pushed for that globally because it would have a big impact.

“Certainly America would fight that one, and so would many others because parmesan is produced all over the world. It’s the same with mozzarella. We just need to wait and see.”

Lamb said the cheese industry was waiting for some direction from the Government about which ministry could help with the renaming process.

“This whole thing will cost a lot of money, renaming the cheeses, because we have to go through a few protocols and legal checks, so we are hoping there will be some Government funding for that.”

- RNZ