All products called halloumi that do not have PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status must be withdrawn from the shelves as of Monday. If no agreement is reached between the parties by Friday, on Monday, letters will be sent to all cheese-makers that the legislation will be implemented.
All products that do not fulfil the specifications will have to be withdrawn from the shelves within 10 days and additionally exports of non-PDO products will stop.
According to Phileleftheros information, the Republic of Cyprus will also take action against a specific cheese-maker whose products have no PDO status but are exported to Germany.
In case an agreement is reached by Friday, the silent tolerance for products called halloumi but have no PDO status will continue for another two months. It is noted that in order to have an agreement, all cheese-makers must be registered to the system checking and certifying the PDO halloumi. So far, only12% of cheese-makers have registered.
