BARMY Euro laws are threatening the jobs of 700 factory workers in Trowbridge as a row over pork pies heats up.

Pork Farm Bowyers' long history of producing Melton Mowbray pork pies could be over if Euro MEPs back a bid to give the popular snack a protected name status.

The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association (MMPPA) wants the Trowbridge factory to stop using the brand name, or relocate to the East Midlands, as the row reaches Brussels.

If Euro MEPs give the status their backing it would mean Melton Mowbray pork pies could only be made within a set distance of the Leicester-shire town.

Factory chiefs and west Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison fear this would lead to the loss of key contracts with buyers like Marks and Spencer and Asda, leading to inevitable job cuts, at a time when economic morale in Trowbridge is only just starting to pick up.

Dr Murrison backed the factory's cause at the House of Commons on Tuesday, when he challenged food minister Alun Michael for giving the MMPPA's bid government approval.

Northern Foods, Bowyers' parent company, is pursuing a judicial review of the decision, while MEPs preside over whether to grant the protected status.

Dr Murrison said it was not a case of defending 'small artisan-style producers against cheap imitations', but of giving one of Bowyers' major competitors a complete monopoly.

"Consumers want to be assured on quality. Where the products are made is of secondary importance," he said.

Lord Haskins, the Government's adviser on rural matters, labelled the decision to back the MMPPA bid 'a complete cock-up'.

A spokesman for Northern Foods said the application was fundamentally flawed and designed to stifle commercial competitiveness and consumer choice.

The European protected food names status came into force in 1993, designed to protect food names on a geographical or traditional recipe basis. Up to 35 UK applications have been approved so far, including Dorset Blue Cheese and Shetland lamb.

In the region of three million Melton Mowbray pies, which contain pork rather than cured meat, are made in the Leicestershire borough every year, with millions more carrying the name but produced outside the area.