For licensing lawyers in the food sector there has been plenty to digest recently.

After the humble Cornish pasty joined the ranks of champagne and stilton in achieving protected status earlier this year, the Devon cream tea may now be heading for a similar designation, Stephen Attree, partner at Cheshire’s Myers Lister Price, informs Obiter.

But Attree is clearly not a big fan of the scone-based snack.

He says: ‘Devon cream teas are the latest British foodstuff to seek EU protected status.

'This looks like a response to the application by Cornish pasty to seek registration… It's interesting to note that Cheshire cheese, Lancashire hot pot and Eccles cakes are conspicuous by their absence in the list of UK designations, which perhaps indicates that they are more reliant on the quality of product than geographical derivation…

'Unless the mark is only offered to those offering highest quality, then consumers will be misled.

'This could all be a storm in a (cream) tea cup.’

Boom, boom.