The U.S. Dairy Industry is voicing concerns over the European Union-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement which was provisionally implemented last week.

 

The agreement contains protections for five generic cheese names; asiago, feta, fontina, goronzola and munster.

 

Those protections will require U.S. dairy producers to add qualifiers to those cheeses if they wish to sell them in Canada including “type,” “style,” or “imitation.”

 

Michael Dykes with the International Dairy Foods Association says, “The outcome in CETA on GIs goes against the very core of a trade agreement, which is to remove trade barriers – not erect new ones – and allow for greater competition.”

 

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