IT is renowned throughout the world and an integral part of any good Sunday roast - and soon it could have the same protected status as a bottle of champagne.

Moves are afoot to ensure that the humble Yorkshire pudding, the much-loved accessory to beef and gravy, should only be produced in the county that provides its name.

If backed, it would mean anyone who tried to make and sell Yorkshire puddings outside the area would face legal action.

The initiative comes from the Tory MP for the Vale of York, Anne McIntosh - herself an avowed fan of the batter-based dish.

Upset by last year's European ruling that Feta cheese should only come from Greece, she feels that Yorkshire's acclaimed pudding should have similar protection.

And now she has set in motion a bid to give the egg-and-flour speciality official safeguards.

She is writing to Markos Kyprianou, the EU commissioner responsible for health and consumer protection, to raise the issue of and seek his support for awarding the dish "protected designation of origin" status.

It follows last year's ruling by the European Court of Justice that prevented a Vale of York cheese producer, Judy Bell, of Shepherd's Purse, near Thirsk, from continuing to call her local cheese feta.

The term was deemed to belong to cheese that was only produced in Greece and Miss McIntosh believes that the Yorkshire pud should be offered the same protection.

She said: "The people of Yorkshire are rightly and fiercely proud of the Yorkshire pudding and feel that it should be granted protected designation of origin status, such as that awarded to feta cheese from Greece and champagne from France.

"If we are not allowed to tuck into our deliciously and locally produced feta cheese, then I do not understand why the product of the Yorkshire pudding should not be equally respected and protected.

"The Yorkshire pudding is something which has been cherished and perfected for centuries in Yorkshire, and I will stand up to protect its good name and quality so that it is given the same protection as other European produced products.

"What is good for feta has to be good for good old Yorkshire pud."