eunite:Halloumi/Hellim PDO
As part of the European Union (EU) funded eunite Programme, eunite:Halloumi/Hellim PDO is a dedicated €12,3 million project focused on:
- Contributing to increased island-wide economic convergence and implementation of EU standards in the Turkish Cypriot community (TCc) through improved public and animal health; and
- Supporting the efforst to enable Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) compliant Halloumi/Hellim crossing the Green Line.
The European Union is dedicated to empowering the Turkish Cypriot community in seizing the full potential of economic development and market opportunities offered by the PDO Halloumi/Hellim in the EU market.
The eunite:Halloumi/Hellim PDO project focuses on enhancing public health and further improving animal health in TCc by a range of interventions that build on and complement the years of EU support to veterinary, food safety, agriculture and rural development in the Turkish Cypriot community.
The eunite:Halloumi/Hellim PDO work in a nutshell:
What we do:
The eunite:Halloumi/Hellim PDO project aims to improve compliance with EU standards, increase productivity and enhance the effectiveness of monitoring in food production chain, as well as bolster animal disease control measures to ensure higher quality, safety, and reliability in food and therefore public and animal health.
eunite:Halloumi/Hellim PDO delivers a comprehensive range of actions to achieve these:
Offering financial support for investments
To support dairy farmers and producers in advancing towards full implementation of EU food safety standards, and to boost their production capacity, with a particular focus on the EU Halloumi/Hellim PDO.
Procuring shelters for goats and sheep
To provide farms with purpose-built, modular animal shelters made of durable materials that protect against extreme weather conditions. This helps in reducing mortality rates and leads to increased milk yields, thereby supporting Halloumi/Hellim PDO production.
Providing Veterinary Medicinal Products
To enable access to veterinary medicinal products authorised by the European Medicines Agency for use in beekeeping, ensuring better health management of bee populations.
Procuring tests and consumables for animal health surveillance
To enable animal disease detection and management in the Turkish Cypriot community.
Performing sampling and testing for animal diseases
To implement animal disease surveillance and eradication, supporting thus effective disease control measures.
Implementing the monitoring of veterinary medicines residues, pesticides and contaminants
To help ensuring absence of harmful substances in food produced in the Turkish Cypriot community.
How we do it:
Grant Schemes
Two grant schemes with a total value of € 3.1 million were launched as Call for Proposals 1 (CFP1) and Call for Proposals 2 (CFP2).
CFP 1: Support implementation of the EU Halloumi/Hellim PDO scheme.
Under CFP1, this first grant scheme, 10 Farms and 3 dairy producers are awarded with grant and their contracts were signed in April 2024. The beneficiaries are procuring machinery and equipment to improve their compliance with EU food safety standards and their production capacity.
CFP 2: Support to upgrade production towards meeting EU food safety standards.
The evaluation process for project proposals under CFP 2, has been completed, and contract signing phase has begun. The grants are intended to support upgrading production towards meeting EU food safety and hygiene standards.
Sampling and testing of cattle, sheep and goats
eunite Programme is providing tests and consumables for animal health surveillance and disease eradication activities. In addition under eunite Programme, entire cattle, sheep and goats population of relevant age is tested for brucellosis. All cattle of relevant age is tested for tuberculosis. In addition, relevant number of samples are tested leucosis, foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease (cattle) and foot-and-mouth disease, sheep and goat pox, peste des petits ruminants (sheep and goats). The sampling and testing is implemented by private veterinarians and lab technicians.
Animal Shelter Supply Scheme
This intervention seeks to improve conditions for animal husbandry on goat and sheep farms. In January 2024, two pilot shelters were installed and tested, yielding positive results that are now being shared with other farmers. Through a new animal shelter supply scheme, between 25 and 35 additional shelters are planned for installation on various farms.
The application period for interested farmers opened in November 2024 and closed in December 2024. Following the evaluation process, 26 successful applicants were selected, and contracts were signed with them in March 2025 to proceed with the installation of the shelters.
Supply of Medicine for Beekeeping
Between February and April 2024, a spring treatment made for 24,000 colonies with organic based substance. In June 2024 testing was made to identify the medicine to be used for following treatments. The delivery for autumn treatment was completed in August 2024. In February 2025, training was provided to beekeepers and applications to the medicine were demonstrated in apiaries regarding Varroa mite control. For the 2025 spring treatment, oxalic acid based organic treatment was in February, treating approximately 23,000 colonies. For the 2025 autumn treatment, oxalic acid based organic products are expected to be delivered in August.
Residue monitoring services and supplies
The services of conducting sampling across the food production chain of food animal origin, as well testing, in one of the EU official laboratories, for veterinary medicines residues, pesticides and contaminants, is planned to start in April 2025. The procurement of laboratory equipment is envisaged for autumn 2025.
Our background:
eunite:Halloumi/Hellim PDO represents an important step in the European Union’s ongoing commitment to support Turkish Cypriot producers meet EU food safety and animal health standards, that are essential requirements to enable integration of Turkish Cypriot business into the island-wide economy and the European single market.
In addition to its ongoing support for compliance with these standards, the eunite Programme aims to further strengthen this assistance, increase the quantity and quality of PDO compliant small ruminant milk, and complement the efforts of the parallel technical assistance projects implemented under the Aid programme.
By levering in the past achievements success that can be accessed on the websites of the parallel and past projects, eunite:Halloumi/Hellim PDO project, under the eunite Programme, will aim to contribute to confidence building and promote economic convergence across Cyprus. It will help ensuring compliance with EU standards.