Herkunftsbezeichnung
In the European Union, the term "Bergkäse" (mountain cheese) is not protected in isolation as a protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI) or as a traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG). In EU law, the use of the PDO seal is permitted for some registered mountain cheeses, provided that the provisions are complied with. In Germany and Austria, producers of genuine mountain cheese in some regions have recently started to have the designations of their cheese protected and/or to have the authenticity confirmed by a seal of a monitoring association or similar (Geographical indication) in order to enable consumers to buy high-quality alpine cheese even far away from the dairies of origin and to protect their product from cheap imitations.