Pork pie-makers to get decision by Christmas

The makers of Melton Mowbray pork pies hope to know by Christmas whether their seven-year campaign for protected-name status for their pies will be given the go-ahead by the High Court.

The application by the seven-strong Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association claims its distinctive products should enjoy the same regional name protection as Champagne or Stilton cheese.

But this declaration has been challenged by food producer Northern Foods, which supplies supermarkets with pies bearing the Melton Mowbray name and claims a 25% slice of the market.

Last week, a High Court judge reserved his judgment until a later date, which is believed to be this side of Christmas.

Only 36 foods made in the UK have won protected status since the EU-wide scheme designed to protect regional foods from inferior competitors came into force in 1996.

If the association succeeds, the Melton Mowbray name will be restricted to pies made using a traditional recipe (devised more than 200 years ago in the Leicestershire town) that are produced within an area of 1,800 square miles that includes Leicester, Northampton and Nottingham.

Northern Foods, which has been making Melton Mowbray pork pies for more than 100 years, argues that the specified region has "no geographical, historical or cultural legitimacy".

Leicester county councillor Matthew O'Callaghan, who is also chairman of the association, said the pork pie-makers had already compromised by doubling the area in which "authentic" Melton Mowbray pork pies could be made.

By Angela Frewin