Deal close with stakeholders for changes to halloumi PDO

Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis said on Friday he was having intensive consultations with all stakeholders to agree on changes to be forwarded to the European Commission regarding halloumi, which was registered as EU’s protected designation of origin (PDO).

Halloumi secured PDO status last April and its production under that status started last October. However, producers claim that they face a series of problems concerning sufficiency of sheep and goat milk to meet the quota and other specifications that will not allow them to continue exporting it in large quantities, as the second most exported product of Cyprus.

Speaking at the House agriculture committee Kadis said that one of the solutions could be the coexistence of halloumi that will be manufactured based on PDO and halloumi that will be manufactured under the trademark that some producers owned before the registration of the product.

He said however that Cyprus would not want the PDO product next to the others on shop shelves, saying it would confuse consumers.

The trademarked products include variants that can’t be included in the PDO such as “halloumi light” and “halloumi chilli”, despite the fact that these variations could also bear the name and characteristics of halloumi.

Kadis also noted that any solution should be legally valid, adding that the European Commission in other cases allowed the coexistence of a pre-existing trademark and a PDO. However he added that any solution would have to go again through the European Commission.

At the same time, the minister said that he was in discussions with all  stakeholders to forward to the European Commission changes in halloumi file, in relation to the quota of the milk, the breeds of animals that will produce the halloumi milk, the moisture content, the shape and the weight of halloumi, expressing the hope that most of the changes could be accepted by the Commission.

He added that the consultations with the stakeholders on the issue were intensive and that they’re close to an agreement that will allow the mass production of halloumi as PDO.