The Dangers of Product Protection Inidcators

How Protected geopgraphical indicators are both a blessing and a Curse

How Stichelton Cheese Got its Name. 

We’re all for the protection and preservation of traditional cheeses, their terroir, taste and most importantly the people who work day in day out to make them. We’re passionate about variety, authenticity and taste. 

So you think leaning on the side of Protected Geographical Indicators and their cousins AOP, AOC and PDO would be simple. 

Not so. 

Most of the time, as you all know we support protecting tradition but some manufacturers have found a way to create a restricted market for their cheeses by changing the rules on traditional cheesemaking and having not so desirable qualities of a cheese enshirned in law. 

Such is the case with Stichelton. A traditional, raw milk blue cheese, made in an 8kg format, in Nottinghamshire, England. 

One would think that this cheese could be labelled as a stilton given its pedigree. That isn’t the case here. No Stichelton is banned from using the name Stilton because they make their cheese from the original Stilton reciepe that calls for raw milk. 

Unfortunately when the PGI for the cheese was created it was in the best interests of larger manufacturers to have the cheese pasteurised, therefore excluding artisan and independent cheesemakers looking to make the best version of the cheese. 

In this and many other cases across Europe a protectionist racket has sprung up, creating conditions under which independant and traditional cheese makers find themselves excluded from the marketplace and the traditional names for their cheeses. 

We were lucky enough to taste Stichelton at Slow Cheese in Italy and I will say it is the best British Blue I have ever eaten. Unfortunately as it stands we can’t import it but if anything changes we will be amongst the first to acquire some. 

Another Cheesemaker, Paulo Cipparelli found himself, and his cheese, Bitto, excluded from using the name of a cheese he had been producing for 20 years. Because he refused to feed his animals fodder, grain and silaeage, required under the recently developed PDO rules, he and 13 other farmers were forced to change the name of their cheese. At first they attempted to use the name Historic Bitto, they were threatened with lawsuits by a consortium of large producers. In the end the name Historic Rebel was chosen.

In summary, PGI and friends are a double edged sword. They, for many years, protected and fostered a cottage industry, to the exclusion of others. As international demands and production scales increased, greed led to these rules, in a few cases, being abused as an exclusionary practice to deter new market entrants as well as discourage independent cheesemaking.