A CHEESE firm banned by the European Commission from using its Yorkshire Feta label may have to spend £175,000 on remarketing the product.

And Judy Bell, of Shepherd's Purse Cheeses, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, fears that milk suppliers in the region may be affected if supermarkets do not take to her new labelling.

Mrs Bell has been ordered to stop using the name feta because the branding of the salted ewe's milk cheese can only be used by manufacturers in specific parts of Greece.

She said: "We thought we'd won this battle against bureaucracy three years ago when the European Court of Justice judged that feta was a generic term and could be used by countries other than Greece.

"In reversing that decision, does the Commission realise the havoc being created for small businesses? Not only ourselves and our expansion plans, but our milk suppliers will be affected, with knock-on effects for the whole rural community."

She said inventing a new name acceptable to the commission and Shepherd Purse's supermarket outlets, such as Sainsbury and Tesco, would create problems.

"We're not allowed to make an anagram of feta or even call it feta-style or type.

"One suggestion, to call it Fiesta Cheese with all but the I and S highlighted, is being seriously considered. Meanwhile, we are lobbying the Government to help.