Stilton: In Cheese Battle

6 May 2013, 09:13 | Updated: 6 May 2013, 09:17

A campaign to let stilton cheese be officially made in Stilton has started at the Cambridgeshire village's annual cheese championships today (Monday May 6).

EU rules mean it can currently only be made in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire, where it's believed to have originated from.

In 1996, the Stilton Cheese Makers' Association was granted Protected Designation of Orgin status for blue Stilton from the European Commission, which gives protection from imitation across the whole of the EU.

However the government's looking into changing that and a public consultation is being launched by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

North West Cambridgeshire MP Shailesh Vara, who represents Stilton, said: 'It would be an enormous achievement for the local community, it would create a lot of new jobs and we would be attracting people from all across the world on a touris basis to see where this world famous historic cheese is made.

'I'm not going to knock the opposition, all I am going to say is that our cheese can stand up to any cheese that calls itself Stilton, it was made here in the early part of the 18th century and I don't see why the original makers can't call it Stilton.'