Thirty years ago, I moved my family from Italy to the United States to start my own cheese company in Green Bay, Wis., making asiago, grana, fontina, mozzarella, gorgonzola, parmesan, provolone and romano. From the beginning, I had only one goal―to make great Italian cheeses―and I succeeded. The company is named BelGioioso Cheese and I serve as president. I also serve as chairman of the Consortium for Common Food Names, an international initiative to preserve the right to use generic food names. Since CCFN was founded three years ago, it has taken action in numerous countries to protect common food names from efforts by the European Union that threaten to negatively impact the use of such generic names as “parmesan”, “feta” and “bologna.”

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Cheese names could be discussed again as U.S. and EU negotiators meet this week for another round of TTIP talks.