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Whatâs in a name? EU full of bologna!
EFL...top trade officials meet in Cancun, Mexico, this week to decide on weighty issues of global industrial tariffs, farm subsidies and cheap medicines for poor countries. The big wild-card issue â almost sure to produce one of the nastiest fracases in Cancun â is a looming battle over food names. Simply put, Europe would like them returned. The 15-nation European Union says feta cheese from Wisconsin is fake, cognac from Chile a canard, champagne from California a cheat. Whatâs more, producers of such products are thieves, the Europeans say. The EU says names such as Bordeaux and Chablis, mozzarella and Roquefort belong to small producers in specific regions of Europe, where those delicacies originated and are still made to traditional specifications. The Europeans are demanding a global trade agreement that says so... "Iâd say âbaloney,â but you realize thatâs a name they want back, too," retorts Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Indeed, your bologna has a first name â itâs O-S-C-A-R â but risks losing its most important name. Lunch meats called bologna or baloney get the name from mortadella bologna, the smooth, pink, steamed sausage made since the Renaissance in Bologna, Italy. Time for Oscar Mayer and others to cut it out, the EU says... Mortadella bologna is one of the 41 names on a list that European trade negotiators are taking to Cancun. The list consists of wines, spirits, meats and cheeses from France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Germany... In the European view, geographic name protection would trump trademark rights. That means, for example, that Anheuser-Busch could be stripped of Budweiser, the brand name of the worldâs top-selling beer. Budweis is the Germanic name of a Czech town that has been brewing beer for more than 700 years. A Czech brewer, Budweiser Budvar, claims it is the rightful owner... Posted by: Tom 2003-09-09 |
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