This has to be one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard. That it comes from the EU isn't really all that surprising. Basically, they want every "locale-based food term" to only apply to foods from that specific region. So Parmesan cheese could only come from Parma, Italy; Bordeaux, Chablis, Champagne, Chainti, Cognac, etc. could only be produced in those cities. You wouldn't be allowed to call a Cognac-like beverage brewed anywhere other than Cognac by their name.

This idea is absolutely outrageous. There are countless food items named after the paces where they originated, so now, under the EU's proposal, those names couldn't be used. Maybe we can just change Cheddar Cheese to Freedom Cheese and Basmati Rice to Freedom Rice. Just Freedom-everything.

The best quote of the article was here though:

After 138 years in business, the Marin French Cheese Co. in Petaluma has just as valid a claim to Camembert as does the French hamlet in Normandy, said Jim Boyce, the owner, whose card identifies him as "purveyor of curds."

"At the microbiological level, the cultures we use (originally) come from France," he said. "We're embedded in name, in practice, in microbiology. We would be deeply upset, hurt and grievously damaged if the United States should acquiesce to removing these names."

URL: The label police / Europeans are getting snippy about foreigners using their place names for food