Wallis but no Gromit!

1.22.22pm GMT Tue 19th Dec 2006

Liberal Democrat Euro MP Diana Wallis visited the home of Wensleydale cheese in Hawes on Friday 15 December, in support of the company's fight to obtain special EU protection from imitators.

Diana Wallis MEP met Mr. David Hartley the Managing Director of Wensleydale Dairy Products Ltd and heard more of the company's plans to obtain European protection to prevent manufacturers outside Wensleydale from producing a cheese with the same name.

Diana Wallis MEP, who in the summer pledged her support for the creamery's campaign, said:

"This is an excellent inititaive and gets my full backing. After all can a cheese be called Wensleydale if it doesn't come from Hawes?

"I would like to see more and more producers in Yorkshire protecting their livelihoods by following Wensleydale's example.

"In general as a region we are missing the boat here especially in comparison to the rest of Europe. My research shows that just one company in the whole of the region has any EU wide protection for its name or product."

Wensleydale Creamery is seeking to obtain Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) for Wensleydale Cheese. A PDO aims to promote and protect food products in the EU and is used to describe foodstuffs which are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how. This means that any manufacturers outside of Wensleydale cannot produce a cheese and call it Real Yorkshire Wensleydale