AN East Lancashire cheese is to be protected by a new 'chemical fingerprint' to weed out fakes.

Beacon Fell traditional Lancashire Cheese already has its own special Protected Denomination of Origin under European Union rules, just like Champagne.

But now the EU and Britain's Food Standards Agency want to make sure that fraudsters cannot pass off inferior products as the real thing.

The cheese, produced by Singleton's Dairy, in Longridge, is one of just nine in the United Kingdom, including Blue and White Stilton, as well as West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, to have its name and reputation specially protected.

Top French cheeses such as some Bries and Camemberts are similarly protected. Now a special test to identify the chemical make-up of the cheeses is being developed. It will then be easy for trading standards officers and scientists to check whether a product claiming to be Beacon Fell traditional Lancashire cheese is what it says it. The FSA said: "One of the project's aims is to develop tests to check that certain cheeses are authentic and that the consumer is not being conned. The project uses cutting edge scientific techniques based on analysing the chemicals naturally present in the food. The techniques developed could eventually be applied by a far wider range of products."

The cheese test should be ready by this autumn, when work will start on extending the technique to other products starting with butter, but it is hoped it will eventually cover other products such as meat, seafood, potatoes and beers such as Newcastle Brown.

John Carr, sales manager of Singleton's Dairy said: "It means that this type of cheese cannot be made anywhere out of the area.