EU defers cheese decision

THE European Commission has postponed an attempt to settle a touchy dispute over what kind of cheese can be called "feta". A Commission official said yesterday commissioners were deeply split over the issue and did not discuss the subject at their weekly meeting. The issue will now be on the agenda for next week.

The Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, who drew up a plan for protecting the names of 320 European food products, proposed that the label be restricted to feta cheese made from goat's milk in Greece. But that has drawn fire from Denmark, which argues that the decision would drastically cut into its exports of feta cheese produced from cow's milk.