食物名称

　　Stressed are the cheesemakers

　　乳酪制造商鸭梨山大

　　Europeans want their food names back. Americans are peeved

　　欧洲人想要回他们的食品名称.这让老美们很不开心。

　　IN 1925 Ron Buholzer's family leftSwitzerlandand settled in lush, green, ruralWisconsin. Here, like so many Wisconsinites, his family started to make cheese. Since then four generations of cheesemakers have worked in the family firm. Their most popular product is feta, a crumbly cheese that goes well in Greek salads. Mr Buholzer worries that he may soon be banned from selling it, because the European Union is trying to “claw back” food names that Americans consider generic but which Europeans believe should only apply to products made in specific bits of their continent. That includes feta, Parmesan and maybe even bologna.

　　1925年，Ron Buholzer家族离开了瑞士定居在繁华、富饶的威斯康辛乡间。在这儿，他的家族和很多威斯康辛本地人一样生产乳酪。从那时起，四代乳酪制造商工作在家族企业里。他们最受欢迎的产品是羊乳酪，这是一种脆蹦的乳酪，混着希腊沙拉味道可口。Buholzer担心他可能很快就要被责令不准卖这种商品了，因为欧盟正试图“弥补性回收”食品名称，这些名称在美国人看来算是同类的商品，而在欧洲人看来则应该只应用于专为部分欧洲大陆生产的产品上。这就包括了羊奶酪，帕尔马奶酪可能甚至包括大腊肠。

　　食物名称.jpg

　　Already Mr Buholzer is barred from exporting his feta toSouth Koreaif he calls it “feta”. Also, any new feta products sold in Canada that are not from Greece will soon have to be called “like” or in the “style” of feta—and not use Greek symbols. The EU is demanding protection for 145 food names, including feta, asiago, Gorgonzola,munsterand fontina.

　　Buholzer已经不被允许以“羊奶酪”命名的产品出口到南韩。同样，任何售往加拿大的心羊奶酪产品，只要不是从希腊出口的，立马改名为“类似”或“羊奶酪风格”—并且不准用希腊商标。欧盟正要求保护145种食品名称，其中包括羊奶酪，艾斯阿格芝士，戈尔根朱勒干酪，明斯特干酪以及意大利果仁味羊奶干酪。

　　American cheesemakers are unwilling to accept this as a feta accompli. On the contrary, they are preparing for a food fight. A group has sprung up to fight the European threat: the Consortium for Common Food Names. Negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a proposed free-trade deal between the EU andAmerica, may stumble over the issue. The EU, meanwhile, is leaning on governments everywhere to stamp on foodmakers who purloin European names.

　　美国乳酪制造商不想接受这种事实。相反的是，他们正准备着进行一场食品抗争。他们建立了一个小组来对抗欧盟的威胁：公共食品名称联盟。在跨大西洋贸易及投资伙伴协定框架下进行谈判，欧盟和美国已达成的自由贸易协定可能会在这件事上磕磕碰碰。同时，欧盟正依靠政府部门去禁止偷窃欧洲名称的食品制造商们。

　　Americans are unimpressed. They see all this as an attempt to erect trade barriers and raise prices by reclaiming words that have long since passed into general use. Many members of Congress have urged Barack Obama's administration to resist the Europeans' demands. Some will use this as an excuse not to ratify a trade deal unless the EU gives way.

　　美国人民很不开心。他们认为这种行为属于建立贸易壁垒并且利用回收这些早已广泛使用很久的名称趁机提高价格。很多国会成员们已经敦促奥巴马政府拒绝欧洲的提议。一些人希望借助此事为借口禁止一些贸易协定的审批除非欧盟在这件事上让步。

　　Americadoes offer legal protection for foods from geographic regions under trademark law. For example, Parmigiano Reggiano cannot be called that unless it really comes from the right parts ofItaly. Likewise, Americans may call fizzy wine fromCalifornia“champagne”, but that is not what it says on the bottle. There is no easy way to determine which names deserve protection. Are French fries safe? Or Italian dressing? Or even that symbol of American pride, the hamburger?

　　在商标法里，美国确实为地理区域食品名称提供了法律保护。例如，除非帕尔玛干酪真正来自意大利的帕尔玛，否则不能任何叫做这个名字。同样的，美国人们也会称加州的泡沫酒为“香槟”，但是在包装瓶上没这么写。决定哪些名字应该受到保护绝不是件简单事。薯条这个名字很安全吗？意大利调味料呢？甚至是美国人民骄傲的象征，汉堡呢？