Roquefort: America imposed a 100 per cent import duty on a long list of EU products on Thursday, but singled roquefort out for a 300 per cent tariff Photo: AFP

The American measures were taken as part of a trade dispute, now known as "cheese wars", in which the Bush administration took action against the European Union's ban on imports of US hormone-treated beef.

Last week, America imposed a 100 per cent import duty on a long list of EU products, but singled roquefort out for a 300 per cent tariff.

"Symbol versus symbol," said Philippe Folliot, a French member of parliament whose Tarn constituency contains many roquefort producers. "Since the United States has decided to surtax one of the most ancient (cheese) appellations, I think that the French government, with the European Union, must think about a heavy specific tax on imports of Coca-Cola concentrates produced in the US."

In a letter to George W Bush's successor, Barack Obama, Mr Folliot called on the newly inaugurated US president to remove the "shocking" roquefort duty, which, he said "uselessly stigmatises an already fragile sector."

Producers of what the French hail as the "king of cheeses" from the Massif Central, southern France, say the rise is tantamount to an "embargo" on roquefort exports to their third biggest market. Roquefort makers export about 420 tons a year, or 2.5 percent of their total production, to the US.

The latest action has been slammed as a parting shot by Mr Bush, who is still thought to be piqued by France's opposition to the 2003 Iraq war.

The move was seen in France as a lame-duck president's final revenge against a nation once maligned as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" in the cartoon programme The Simpsons.

The EU banned growth hormones on European farms more than two decades ago on health grounds, but their use was continued in the United States.

After a long-running legal battle, the World Trade Organisation ruled in October that there was no "scientific" evidence that eating hormone-treated beef posed a health threat. But Brussels refused to lift its ban and brought another case before the WTO.

Last week Washington hit back with retaliatory duties on a range of European food exports. No British foodstuffs were affected as successive UK governments have supported the lifting of the EU ban on growth hormones.

France's agriculture minister yesterday said his country and the European Commission would appeal the new tariff in the WTO.

Describing the American move as "pretty mediocre," Michel Barnier said it "won't make us bend one centimetre" from the EU line against the import of hormone beef.

Roquefort is a crumbly cheese of slightly moist consistency and characterized by green veins of mould. It is made exclusively from ewes' milk that is left to ripen in the caves of Mont Combalou in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.

Legend has it that the cheese was discovered when a young shepherd eating his lunch of bread and ewes' milk cheese forgot his meal in a cave after spotting a beautiful girl. When he returned a few days later, the mould Penicillium Roqueforti had transformed his plain cheese into roquefort.