Northern Foods has pledged to continue its fight for the right to make Melton Mowbray pork pies in Wiltshire and Shropshire.
The company will seek permission to appeal against a High Court ruling in December which backed moves to win protected geographical status for Melton Mowbray pork pies.
If successful, the application would mean only traditionally-made pies from a 1,800 square mile area (which includes Leicester, Nottingham and Northampton) could use the famous name.
The application was made by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on behalf of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association (MMPPA).
Northern Foods, whose own Melton Mowbray- branded product accounts for 60% of the £160m market for the pies, accused the MMPA of using EU legislation “to cynically manipulate the law at the expense of consumers and the food industry”.
However MMPPA chairman Matthew O’Callaghan said: “There is nothing to stop Northern Foods making pork pies to the proper recipe or switching production to its factory within the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie area.”
He added that the association would fight any appeal from Northern Foods “all the way to the European Courts, if necessary.”
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By Angela Frewin
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