The European Court of Justice will rule next week on a case against Germany for violating European Union regulations protecting the authenticity of quality food products by allowing the name 'parmesan' to be used for a German cheese.
The case was brought against Germany by the European Commission, the EU executive, after the ECJ issued a non-binding opinion in 2002 that the word "parmesan" can only be used to market the real thing: Italy's Parmigiano Reggiano, which has the EU's Protect Designation of Origin (PDO) status.
Germany maintains that 'parmesan' has become a generic term for grated cheese.
Italy's Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium is optimistic that the court will again decide in its favor.
A ruling in Germany's favor, the consortium's director Leo Bertozzi observed, ""would totally undermine the EU's system which guarantees the origin and quality of products, with unmeasurable damage for Italy's many registered foods and wines".
Bertozzi added that a ruling against real Parmigiano would open the floods gates for misleading advertising and deal a blow to consumer protection.
The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium has had to become increasingly assertive in defending its product's name from improper use. So far it has been successful.
It scored a key legal victory five years ago when it managed to stop an American cheesemaker from using the Parmigiano tag on its grated cheese.
This was the fourth time in ten years that a US company had been forced to remove the label from its product.
In 2003, Italy lobbied to have cloned American parmesan denied permission to export worldwide and the US product later failed in its bid to be admitted to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Codex Alimentarius.
Parmigiano Reggiano continues to be sold in cloned versions in South America, Japan, Germany and Britain, while in France 'parmesan' refers exclusively to the Italian cheese.
In Brazil a pirated version is marketed as Parmesao, while Argentina calls its fake parmesan Regianito.
With origins in the 12th century, authentic Parmigiano is a uniquely hard but crystal-grained, crumbly and tart-sweet cheese which adorns most pasta dishes and is prized as baby food. It is not cut but wedged open.
