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A number of United Kingdom food and drink products have been granted Protected Geographical Status under European Union law. The purpose of the scheme is to protect the reputation of regional products, promote traditional and agricultural activity and to eliminate non-genuine products, which may mislead consumers or be of inferior or different character; for example, producers cannot refer to their product as Scotch whisky unless it has been produced within Scotland, following particular methods. There are three schemes of geographical indications, "protected designation of origin" (PDO), "protected geographical indication" (PGI), and "traditional specialities guaranteed" (TSG), which are designed to promote and protect names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs.
Contents
The United Kingdom has a total of 65 products with protected status, relatively few when compared with Portugal (125 protected status products), France (217) and Italy (267). Several countries, however, including Ireland (5), Sweden (6) and Austria (14), have a considerably lower count. Most of the products hold either PGI (38) or PDO (25) status, with only two products being designated as TSG.
This list, excepting "spirit drinks", is compiled according to the Database of Origin and Registration and E-Bacchus, European Commission databases of all registered products, as well as all products which were formerly registered or for which registration has been applied. The majority of products that hold protected status are foodstuffs fit for human consumption, including cheeses (15), fresh meat and offal (13), meat products (4), fish and molluscs (10), fruit and vegetables (6), wines (4) and spirit drinks (3). While other agricultural products can be included, native Shetland wool is the only non-edible product to hold protected status in the UK.
Legislation
The schemes were introduced in 1993, although they are now governed by Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which was introduced in 2012, in part to overhaul and regulate the protected status system. Spirits, fortified wines and aromatised wines, described by the European Commission as "spirit drinks", are governed by a separate regulation, Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
The EU employs three different protected status schemes, which provide differing levels and types of protection:
Products with protected status
The categorisation below is based on the format used in the Database of Origin and Registration and E-Bacchus databases.