Or to put it differently, The US cheese industry has strong protection from the EU cheese industry's naming rules.

For Feta:

> According to the relevant EU legislation, only those cheeses produced in a traditional way in particular areas of Greece (Peloponnese, Central Greece, Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, Thrace, and the islands of Lesbos and Cephalonia), which are made from sheep's milk, or from a mixture of sheep's and up to 30% of goat's milk from the same area, can be called feta

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feta

I would assume though that US or ZA feta is _never_ exported and sold anywhere in the EU under that name. That would be against the laws in place where it is sold.

> Or to put it differently, The US cheese industry has strong protection from the EU cheese industry's naming rules.

I suppose. Anyway, this is like buying hamburger meat and discovering it's made out of ostrich.

I think there's a big difference between making it illegal to name something because it wasn't manufactured in a certain spot, versus making it illegal because it's a completely different product. I couldn't care less if Feta was made in Greece or not. But Feta from cow's milk isn't Feta, any more than a peanut butter sandwich made with hummus isn't a peanut butter sandwich.

But then how would you find actual Feta (sheep/cow milk and original recipe) if everyone can call anything they want Feta?

two possible answers:

1) Specialist shops will stock imported authentic original Greek Feta

2) you don't - cheap product drives out the original. This is exactly why names like "feta" are protected in the EU.