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Halloumi cheese earns E.U. quality mark

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The European Union has recognized halloumi as a traditional product of Cyprus, which will shield the country’s top food export from an increasing number of foreign producers using the cheese’s name to muscle into a 224-million-euro ($267 million) market, the Cypriot agriculture minister said Tuesday.

Costas Kadis said that after a seven-year effort, the salty rubbery cheese made from goats’ and sheep’s milk that’s prized for its ability to withstand melting on the grill, has earned the EU’s top quality mark– the Protected Designation of Origin. That means that only Cypriot halloumi — or hellim in Turkish — can be marketed abroad under that name.

The EU has made no official announcement on the matter.

Kadis said the timing of the designation was crucial as more competitors trying to cash in on the cheese’s popularity were taking advantage of the legal void to market their own version of halloumi under that name that doesn’t necessarily conform to traditional standards. The minister said Cyprus is currently involved in 80 court cases against foreign producers who “unlawfully” use the halloumi name to market their cheese.

The agreement appears to have overcome a key obstacle that stems from the ethnically divided island nation’s complex politics. Turkish Cypriots have wanted to export the cheese directly from their self-declared state in the country’s northern third that’s recognized only by Turkey. International laws prohibit that.

Cyprus was split along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded in the wake of a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The country joined the EU in 2004, but the bloc’s rules and regulations only apply to the southern, Greek Cypriot part of the island led by an internationally recognized government.

Kadis said that the Cypriot government has authorized Bureau Veritas — a European body that certifies food and agricultural products — to perform checks on halloumi, or hellim, produced on both sides of the ethnic divide to ensure it meets exact quality specifications.

A separate, international body will carry out health and safety checks on both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot producers.

Turkish Cypriot hellim that meets quality, health and safety standards will be able to cross the United Nations buffer zone.

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