Putting a "Trademark" on Regional Foods
While writing the blog about Hubert, I remembered something else interesting about protected food names within the EU.
In the Hubert blog I mentioned that the word “champagne” is protected, and only sparkling wine that is produced in Champagne, France can be called champagne. EU law recognizes something called Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), which protects the names of regional foods.
For example, feta is a particular cheese that is produced in Greece. Another similar “feta” cheese was produced in Denmark, but the EU ruled against the name being called “feta”. Any other cheese that is similar to feta but not the original product from Greece must be labeled with something similar to “feta-like” cheese or “Greek-like feta” cheese.
Note: The US generally opposes the idea of PDO, and therefore, you can buy “feta” and “champagne” in the US that are clearly not the original.
Actually, the issue of protecting names of regional foods can potentially create disagreements. In Europe sometimes foods can’t clearly originate by country because geographic borders have changed several times over the centuries. Poland and Slovakia have similar cheeses, for example, and names for these cheeses are similar or even the same. Oštiepok cheese in Slovakia is the same as oscypek in Poland.
A few years ago Poland registered their Polish variety of bryndza cheese called Bryndza Podhalańska with PDO status. Slovakia also produces bryndza cheese. I’m not certain how this will change Slovak production in the future, but it’s a potential cause for concern.
Interestingly enough, though PDO is recognized by the EU, the law is gradually expanding internationally and also expanding to recognize regional foods from other parts of the world. Here’s a perfect example of that: rum is a product of the Caribbean, and is traditionally made from sugar cane. Rum that is made domestically in Europe is made from beet root and therefore, it’s not “rum”. So, as of a few years ago, rum that is produced in Slovakia is now called um. I remember that it seemed the labels on the bottles in Slovak stores changed literally over night. It was such a funny solution, and yet it’s effective.
It makes me wonder how cases similar to these will be played out in the future. Without a doubt we can look forward to hearing many more of them. In some cases the argument may hinge on simply who has registered PDO status first. That would be a shame. I hope measures are in place to allow plenty of debate before anything is set in stone, otherwise people of neighboring countries may feel cause to pick a new fight.
Some might say, “Well, that’s silly for anyone to get upset over cheese”, for example, but when a food item is tied to an ethnic people and has been made in a traditional way for hundreds of years, it’s not surprising that emotions will run deep.
I think Slovaks better make a list (if they haven’t already), and make sure that whatever food items they decide are “original Slovak” gets the PDO status stamp on it. Otherwise it’s just a matter of time before one of their neighbors does.
