A bigger slice of the pie

A pork pie. Photograph: Graham Turner
Melton Mowbray pie makers have come one step closer to securing protected status for their product today, with a win in the high court.

Rival producers, Northern Foods, have lost their bid to stop the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from applying for protected geographical indication for the pies at the European commission, despite claims that it would create a monopoly in the country's fastest growing pie market.

It now seems likely that Melton Mowbray pies will be granted the same protected status as other geographically-named foods, such as Stilton cheese and Parma ham, next year. This would mean Northern foods, who supply 25% of the UK market from their factories in Shropshire and Wiltshire, would no longer be able to use the label and would effectively lose their slice of the £50m Melton Mowbray pie.