Thursday, January 30, 2014

What About My 'Polish' Sausage?

So, according to the powers that be in Britain, if your yogurt wasn't made in Greece, then it is not Greek yogurt.  Here's the story in a nutshell:  Fage yogurt, based in Greece, sued to prevent Chobani yogurt from labeling their products 'Greek yogurt' because the product was not made in Greece, but made in the United States.  And they won the lawsuit.

Is this ridiculous or what?  Or is it just me?  I had been making Greek yogurt at home for years before it was readily available in stores here.  Now it is everywhere.  Should I have called it West Bloomfield yogurt?  And what about my homemade 'New York' bagels?  And all that Greek salad dressing in the grocery stores.  Pretty sure it is not imported.

Does where something comes from really the determining factor in its name?  I always thought it was more about the actual composition of the food.  I have Dijon mustard in my pantry that is made in Illinois.  Maybe it should be labeled 'Dijon-style' instead, like the 'Italian-style' Arborio rice I have from Texas.

I buy my Polish sausage from a company in Hamtramck, Michigan.  Maybe some Polish sausage maker should sue.  And the Italians could get in on the action over Italian sausage.

I guess it is true that anyone can sue for any reason.


1 comment:

  1. I guess it is to protect their marketing rights. Like champagne only comes from the champagne region of France. All the rest is sparkling wine. I don't see anything wrong with having to label something "type" to protect the original sources.

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