The growth in UK cheese is no longer coming from the most familiar part of the fixture. AHDB analysis of NIQ Homescan data for the 52 weeks ending 04/10/2025 shows cows’ cheese volumes up 1.6% year on year and spend up 5.3%. Cheddar remains the largest part of the category, accounting for 45.2% of volumes, yet its own volume growth was just 0.1%. Speciality and continental cheese grew by 3.2%.
That is the trading context in which FETA PDO enters 2026. This is not another white cheese competing for chiller space. It is a protected Greek product whose commercial strength rests on precisely the attributes now doing more of the work in premium dairy: origin, method, legal protection and a recognisable eating occasion.
WHAT THE PDO ACTUALLY GUARANTEES
Protected Designation of Origin status matters because it gives buyers a specification rather than a slogan. The European Commission’s geographical indication scheme protects the names of products that originate in a defined region and carry qualities or a reputation linked to that territory. In the case of FETA PDO, the name is tied to Greece, to defined production areas and to traditional milk supply and processing rules.
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Published by The Dairy Mail, Dairy Connect: https://www.dairy-connect.com/the-dairy-mail/feta-pdo-provenance-the-buyer-can-verify/
