Traditional Foods

There remain only a few short days to support the distribution of a great food documentary and be a part of movie history.

Those of you following the story of Steve Hook, the pioneering raw milk dairy farmer, here on Artisan Food Law will probably have spotted there are two parallel stories taking place. The first came to an end when the Foods Standards Agency dropped its prosecution against Steve Hook and Selfridges for selling raw milk from a vending machine located in the food hall of the prestigious Oxford Street store in London. The second was a far more interesting and glamorous affair.

If the latest moves to regulate the consumption of olive oil in restaurants from the European Commission were designed as a gift for the Brexit lobby they could not have come at a better time. As Harvey Morris writing in the New York Times put it: “Even the most fervent supporters of the European Union would acknowledge that its bureaucrats occasionally display an unrivaled (sic) talent for shooting themselves in the foot.”

On 26 March 2013 the High Court handed down judgement in FAGE UK Limited v Chobani UK Limited which proved to be a classic passing-off case, only this time the subject was yoghurt. The question before the High Court was whether the phrase ‘Greek yoghurt’ carried sufficient reputation and goodwill as a distinctive yoghurt made in Greece to warrant protection. Whilst the production of yoghurt can be traced back some 15,000 years, FAGE was undoubtedly assisted by the fact that all yoghurt sold in the UK during the last 25 years labelled ‘Greek yoghurt’ was strained yoghurt made in Greece.