Feta cheese is the “white gold” for Greece, said President of the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (NUAC) Pavlos Satolias.
Satolias said in an interview with Peloponnisos newspaper that exports of the famous Greek cheese increase each year. At the moment, 65 percent of feta produced in the country is exported. The king of Greek cheeses has opened many markets around the world and can be found in every European country and Australia, as well as others in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
“In the balance of current transactions in the agri-food sector, feta has contributed 1 billion euros to our country’s economy, based on 2023 figures. We are talking about a dynamic product that is constantly developing, giving perspective to both the producer and the processing in our country,” he said.
“It is the ‘white gold’ of the country,” Satolias said, and added:
“It is indicative that in 2014 feta had exports worth 142 million euros and in 2023 it has reached 1 billion. We are talking about an increase of about 700 percent and this is why we have to protect it from forgeries, from misrepresentations. It is a constant problem.”
The President of NUAC went on to say that “feta has to be the original product. There is only one way to achieve that: A strict legislative framework that will act as a deterrent. No one can play with our country.”
Feta cheese is only Greek and significantly contributes to the country’s economy
Satolias went on to say that several countries produce white cheese and name it feta. This is where the legislative framework he refers to comes into play. He maintained that imitations of feta cheese produced in other countries are not of the same quality. Feta cheese is Greek and only Greek.
“It is not possible for feta cheese of the same quality and production process as…in our country to be made cheaper abroad. Those who say that feta is cheaper abroad, they are imported slices, with another production method that is not under the PDO framework,” he said, referring indirectly but clearly to the issue of misleading names for feta cheese.
Imitation feta cheeses use a ratio of sheep and goat milk that is unlike that provided for by EU regulations.
Satolias went on to explain why the price of feta cheese has gone up. “The production cost of feta cheese and the retail price are really high today because the cost of ingredients, transportation, energy and so on have gone up. If all the links of the production chain are not supported, we will not have the real final product,” the NUAC President concluded.
