‘Gruyere’ can be used to describe US cheeses, court rules

Decision means word cannot be restricted in US only for kind made originally in France or Switzerland

A US appeals court has ruled that the word gruyere" is a common label for cheese and cannot be reserved just for the kind made originally in France or Switzerland.

The US does not have the same strict rules as Europe on the designation of origin for foods, said judges in the Richmond, Virginia-based US court of appeals for the fourth circuit.