Cheese War Over

Slovakia will withdraw its veto on the registration of the Polish "oscypek" highlander cheese.

An agreement on the matter has been signed by Poland's deputy premier and agriculture minister Andrzej Lepper and his Slovak opposite number Miroslav Jurenia. Slovakia officially filed the veto with the European Commission on February 19th claiming it has for centuries been the producer of a similar type of cheese under the name of "osztiepok".

If Poland would receive the Recognized Certificate of Origin, Slovakian `osztiepok' could encounter serious barriers in export to other EU markets, Slovakia argued. However, the Polish side had been successful in explaining to its southern neighbors that a bilateral agreement of December 2005 effectively guarantees the two products and their brand names absolute independence of each other, having entirely different cow milk content and place of origin.

This allows for independent registration of the Slovak and Polish cheese product. The contentious cheese has been produced from times immemorial on both sides of the border in the Tatra mountain region with the initial differences becoming more visible, or rather palatable. The Slovak "osztiepok" variety is produced in seven selected dairy plants with Dutch and French capital participation.


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Source: Radio Polskie

Poland lays claim to Oscypek

Not enough to go to war over, but Poland and Slovakia are in a fight over oscypek. No, it's not a territory - it's a cheese.



The tiff is over the right to register a traditional smoked cheese, made from ewe's milk, soaked in brine and smoked. Poland had wanted it added to the EU's protected list this month. But, Slovakia objected, meaning that neither country can lay claim to it. Can a local tradition be patented?

It’s a regional product in Poland, a speciality of the Podhale region. Tasting oscypek, and of course bringing it home to family and friends, is a must for anybody who goes for a trip to the Tatra mountains or visits Kraków and Zakopane. For centuries oscypek has been produced locally by mountaineers in fairly primitive conditions and sold in stalls and open-air markets. The precise procedures of its production were closely guarded family secrets, passed on from generation to generation. Now, because of EU hygienic standards of food manufacture and processing forced on member nations - it just ain't the same.

The two countries have six months to come to an amicable solution. If not, the EU will have to rule on the matter.

According to the Associated Press, Oscypek would have become only the second listed agricultural product from the eight Eastern European nations that joined the EU in 2004. The first was Budejovicke beer from the Czech Republic.