EU member-states are locked in an internal squabble over which of its gastronomic treasures should win worldwide brand protection - an issue infuriating some of its major trade partners who see the move as protectionism.
The EU is keen to present its list of brand names of food and drinks at the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) top-level session next month in Cancun, Mexico, where principles on liberalising farm trade should be agreed.
The EU is seeking to apply WTO rules to protect "absolutely" the names of Europe's best-known gastronomic treasures, which are not only the most valuable but also the most widely copied overseas.
They include drinks such as Chablis, Champagne and Cognac, and foods such as Gorgonzola and Manchego cheese: items often pirated under their original names at the cost of European producers, according to the EU Commission.
Italy's makers of Parma ham - a delicacy enjoyed worldwide and with a denomination dating back to Roman times - cannot call their product "Parma ham" in Canada and are even banned from selling it in Mexico, it says.
Apart from running into fierce opposition from its major trading partners, who see the EU moves as crude attempts at protectionism, the bloc has succeeded in dividing its 15 member-states over exactly which products should be protected.
The EU's influential trade committee ended its last meeting in deadlock on the issue after a string of heated interventions from several delegations.
Denmark and Greece revived their long-standing dispute over rights to sell and market Feta cheese, with Greece declaring that it would only accept the draft list if it included Feta and Kalamata olives - and, if possible, the alcoholic drink ouzo.
Despite all the national gripes, EU officials say member-states should agree a revised list at the committee's next meeting on August 18th.
The idea of granting global protection for certain products has infuriated some of the EU's major WTO partners, particularly the United States, which see Europe's insistence on using geographical labels as thinly veiled protectionism.
The EU insists it is not alone, with countries like India keen to protect Darjeeling tea and Thailand its Jasmine rice.
