Bid To Give Ġbejna ‘Protection’ Across EU Turns ‘Concept On Its Head’ To Favour Large Companies, PN Spokesperson Warns
PN spokesperson Peter Agius has sounded the alarm after one national culinary treasure – the Maltese ġbejna – came under threat amid a standoff between local sheepherders and the state.
The bid – a ‘protected designation of origin’ (PDO) – was set up by the EU to protect products that have been part of a country’s traditions, but PN MP Peter Agius has claimed that authorities in Malta have “have “turned it on its head.”
“The European concept has been made to protect products that have been part of our tradition from the old days and not products conjured out of laboratories and factories,” he wrote on Facebook.
A standoff emerged after local sheepherders claimed that the PDO was worded in a way that favours large, corporate companies producing the product for reasons other than preserving Maltese heritage.
“We could have registered the product as one of Maltese origin but the government kept dragging its feet,” he added.
Times of Malta reported that local herders claimed that milk production company Benna got their way after the wording of the application was changed from seeking to protect “ġbejna and ġbejniet” to “ġbejna tan-nagħaġ” (sheep’s ġbejna).
However, local herders argued that Malta’s national cheese can only be tan-nagħag, and worry that having a bid worded as such would pave the way for ‘copycat cheeselets’ to be produced out of cow’s milk while keeping them under the same name: ġbejniet.
“Now we’ve really put our foot in it. “We’re going to redefine what the traditional ġbejna actually is. And you know what? It doesn’t seem to be what we remember from our childhood,” he said.
“We can have all the ‘Agrifairs’ we want, but if we keep killing off our own market, the Maltese product will continue to suffer. A shame because we have so much potential.”
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