Protected products: What makes lamb from South Africa’s Karoo and France’s Mont Saint-Michel so special

Published 2024년 3월 28일

Tridge summary

The article emphasizes the importance of Geographical Indications (GIs) in providing consumers with unique, culturally rich products that are protected under the World Trade Organisation's 1994 intellectual property agreement. Highlighting examples from around the globe, including Champagne from France, Parma ham from Italy, Basmati rice from India, and Karoo lamb from South Africa, it showcases how GIs enhance the food shopping and dining experience by ensuring authenticity and protecting regional heritage. The piece also delves into the challenges of maintaining this authenticity, particularly for high-value products like Karoo lamb, where the Karoo Lamb Consortium plays a crucial role in safeguarding the supply chain against fraud. Scientific methods, such as analyzing key terpenes, have proven effective in authenticating the origin of products, ensuring consumers receive genuine goods and preserving the unique characteristics and stories behind these regional specialties.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

A meal or food shopping experience can be more interesting and enjoyable when you know more about a particular product, like what region it came from and the culture that shaped it. Knowing what makes the food “unique” can improve the tasting experience. Think about drinking an ice-cold glass of “real” Champagne from France or the satisfaction of serving your dinner guests “Parma ham” from Italy's Parma region. In 1994 the World Trade Organisation put in place an agreement on intellectual property (Trips) that had a section on Geographical Indications. This increased the protection of certain products, and extended it to more countries. The rights are territorial – the name of a product can only be used if it is sourced from a designated country or region. All members of the WTO are required to make sure this protection happens in their territories. As a result of the agreement most countries realised they had food products with unique “backstories”. Examples include: Basmati rice ...

Source: Modernghana