What Will Happen to EU-Protected Food Names After Brexit?

Last week, more than six months after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Theresa May outlined her 12-point plan for a "hard" Brexit (ICYMI, it's still not entirely clear what that means). While the cameras were pointed towards the PM, another meeting was taking place behind closed doors—one that could change the future of British food and drink.

Chaired in Westminster by MP George Eustice at the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) and members of the UK's Protected Food Names Association (PFN), the meeting hoped to secure the fate of the Cornish pasty, the destiny of the Melton Mowbray pork pie, and the future of Stornoway black pudding.

But what do these foods have in common (apart from their hangover-curing properties) and how does this have anything to do with Brexit?

Currently, pasties, pork pies, and black pudding—plus more than 70 other regional and traditional foods and ingredients in Britain—are registered under an EU-protected scheme that guarantees the food names as a mark of authenticity and origin.

Known as Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), the mark ensures that your single Gloucester cheese was produced, processed, and prepared in Gloucestershire, using milk from Gloucester cows reared in the area. Likewise, traditional Grimsby smoked fish will qualify for the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) seal of approval if it has been prepared in accordance with the traditional method and within the town boundaries. And you can be sure your Gloucestershire old spot bangers are legit if they're Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG), which means they have a name and characteristics that distinguish them from similar products.

There are no equivalent protection schemes in the UK, leaving many PDO, PGI, and TSG food and drink producers worried that such indicators of authenticity may be lost to May's "hard" Brexit. Could producers in Lincolnshire lay claim to making Cornish clotted cream or Shetland lamb be passed off as Welsh?

Matthew O'Callaghan, chairman of the PFN and the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association believes that knock-off Cumberland sausages and Rutland bitter could become a real problem for producers up and down the country.

He told MUNCHIES: "We are really concerned that if nothing is done quickly to come up with a UK scheme then many of our iconic foods may disappear because of competition by cut-price inferior products which bear no resemblance to the original and no link with their place of origin."

For small food businesses who pride themselves on authenticity, this could also mean leaving themselves open to exploitation from big companies. We spoke to James McIlwraith of Sampford Courtenay Cider in Devon, who is currently seeking PDO status for "Devon cider."

"The cider industry is split into two halves—the small, traditional makers and large, commercial firms. If you buy something calling itself Devon cider, you would think it was made in Devon, from Devon apples. And the fact is that a lot of it isn't," he explains. "The large commercial companies might pretend that in their marketing it's Devon cider and it's very difficult for small companies, who don't have much in the way of marketing budgets, to explain why what they do is different to the big firms."

McIlwraith continued: "With the PDO, it's clear to everyone what the product is. It's a clear distinction between the big companies and the small businesses."

Claire Macleod of Charles Macleod Butchers in Stornoway, purveyors of the PGI-status Stornoway black pudding, has echoed McIlwraith's sentiments in interviews. Speaking on BBC's The Food Chain radio programme last November, she said: "The Stornoway protection affords butchers who are operating within the geographical boundaries of Stornoway to use the name Stornoway in their product, brand, and marketing. It's not really that we're claiming to be better than any other region because there are so many regional variants. But it's specifically to protect our farms from any other businesses trading on the Stornoway name."

What is Defra's response to such concerns, which have been voiced by several other food protection bodies since the referendum vote last June? MUNCHIES reached out for comment from the Government's agency, but when we received a response prior to Wednesday's meeting with the PFN, it was still pretty vague.

A spokesperson told us: "We are still a member of the EU and continue to engage with EU business as normal, which means the Protected Food Names scheme remains in place. These products are extremely important to our reputation as a great food nation and we will work to ensure they continue to benefit from protection in the future."

Whether British foods will continue to benefit from that protection is still up for debate. Despite the fact that a country doesn't have to be in the EU to have food names protected (Colombian coffee is protected, for example), there does have to be a reciprocal agreement in place that sees countries uphold one another's protected food names.

When asked about the outcome of Wednesday's meeting with the PFN members, the Defra spokesperson told MUNCHIES that they wouldn't be able to provide a comment on the discussions. PFN chairman O'Callaghan, however, was more forthcoming about the talks.

"We worked with [Defra] exploring the features of a potential UK Protected Food Name scheme. Our message was that we want something that is as least at the same standard as the current European scheme and one where current registrations and those in the pipeline near completion would automatically continue under any new scheme," he said.

Thinking back to cider maker McIlwraith and black pudding producer Macleod's argument that protected food names make it easier for food businesses to compete within the British market, perhaps a UK-based scheme is best. But what about those trading abroad and who want to protect their products from European copycats?

O'Callaghan replied: "[A UK Protected Food Name scheme] would have to be compatible with the EU scheme for our products to be protected there."

While there are still many uncertainties, McIlwraith remains positive. He said: "We're all presuming that some sensible state of affairs will arise out of this. I don't think the post-Brexit world is going to affect us in Devon."

We'll cross our fingers and raise a pint of PDO-status Devon cider to that.