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Dairy industry makes progress protecting common names

The executive director of the Consortium for Common Food names says the dairy industry has made major headway to respect the rights of generic names and geographical indicators.

Jaime Castaneda tells Brownfield his alliance along with the U.S. Dairy Export Council have come to an agreement with Mozzarella di Bufala Campana “Which is the main GI holder for mozzarella in Europe.  What they’re going to do is seek the protection of the entire name, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, and they will put a disclaimer that mozzarella is generic,” he says.  

He says the group is working with producers of commonly named foods in the European Union to recognize geographical indicators and protect generic uses.  

“What we are hoping is that if we have another sort of agreement in Italy, maybe that can actually transfer to have further agreements including an agreement between the United States and Europe.”

He says more international markets are discovering specialty cheeses because of the U.S. dairy industry and whenever Europe blocks names, the U.S. has to create new ones or lose markets which is an ongoing struggle.