Via Culture: news that Roth Kase will stop calling one of its cheeses “Gruyere” in recognition of Swiss AOC rules. I expect we’ll see more cases like this as America increasingly becomes a player on the global cheese market. Cheese makers here have pretty much been able to call any cheese any dang thing they want for a very long time, but on balance I think it would be a good thing if we started respecting European AOC laws. 

Monroe - A cheese producer in Monroe will drop the word gruyere from one of its cheese names, giving in to pressure from its Swiss parent company and the Swiss Gruyere industry.

Emmi Roth USA says its Grand Cru Gruyere will be known simply as Grand Cru.

Company executive Steve Millard says the change reflects the fact that the cheese isn’t made in the Gruyere region of Switzerland.

A Monroe Times report says Switzerland grants legal protection to the names of regional foods, but the U.S. doesn’t. The Swiss want the name protected, in part to prevent counterfeiting.

Jim Natzke, an executive at the Monroe factory, said Grand Cru Gruyere and Emmi’s Swiss gruyere are from the same family of cheeses but acknowledges they don’t taste the same.