Cyprus Minister of Agriculture mentioned Friday that he was having intensive consultations with all stakeholders, to agree on modifications to be forwarded to the European Fee relating to the normal Cypriot cheese halloumi, that was registered as EU’s protected designation of origin (PDO).
Halloumi secured PDO standing final April and its manufacturing beneath that standing began final October. Nonetheless, producers declare that they face a sequence of issues regarding sufficiency of sheep and goat milk to satisfy the quota and different specs that won’t enable them to proceed exporting it in massive portions, because the second most exported product of Cyprus.
Chatting with the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture on the matter, the Minister Costas Kadis mentioned that one of many options might be the coexistence of halloumi that shall be manufactured based mostly on PDO and halloumi that shall be manufactured beneath the trademark that some producers owned earlier than the registration of the product.
He harassed, nevertheless, that they didn’t want the coexistence on the identical shelf of halloumi as PDO and halloumi as trademark that may create confusion amongst shoppers. He clarified that the trademark will embrace merchandise that can’t be included within the PDO akin to “halloumi gentle” and “halloumi chilli”, beneath sure situations, although this merchandise may additionally bear the title and traits of the halloumi.
He additionally famous that any resolution needs to be legally legitimate, including that the European Fee in different instances allowed the coexistence of a pre-existing trademark and PDO. Nonetheless he harassed that any resolution must go once more by way of the European Fee.
On the similar time, the Minister mentioned that he was in discussions with all stakeholders to ahead to the European Fee modifications in halloumi file, in relation to the quota of the milk, the breeds of animals that may produce the halloumi milk, the moisture content material, the form and the load of halloumi, expressing the hope that a lot of the modifications might be accepted by the Fee.
He added that the consultations with the stakeholders on the problem have been intensive and that they’re near an settlement that may enable the mass manufacturing of halloumi as PDO.
He additionally referred to the rules on which any settlement needs to be based mostly that are the significance of registration of halloumi as PDO, the withdrawal of all authorized motion taken towards product registration, the exploiting of the potential of emblems, making certain the sustainability of sheep and goat farmers, sustaining the prevailing exports, the settlement on the amendments that shall be forwarded to Brussels and the strict implementation of the answer that shall be agreed.
On the similar time, Kadis mentioned that the Authorities needs to help all stakeholders to discover a resolution and will contribute, to the problem of the sustainability of sheep and goat farmers.