Artisanal cheese with no designation of origin: keys to correctly label it

Abstract

Correct food labelling is primordial for consumers to receive truthful information and help them with their purchasing decisions. This renders the need to adapt each label to fulfil the demands of the new regulations in force. Artisanal cheese with no Designation of Origin has traditionally presented defects that affect its commercialization from incomplete or misleading information on labels. As the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis in this sector has revealed the need to update labelling to adapt to legal changes, this study evidences non-compliances to be corrected and proposes correct generic design labels for several commercialized cheese types with no Protected Designation of Origin on the European market. The information on 76 artisanal cheese labels from several types with neither Designation of Origin nor containers, produced by different cheese makers in Gran Canaria Island (Spain), was analyzed. Most deficiencies that didn’t meet current legislation involved: origin (100%); quantity of ingredients (89.5%); conservation (86.84%); denomination (79%); ingredients (67.10%); marked identification (61.8%); marked dates (58%); milk processing (27%); batch (20%); net quantity (16%). A label model is proposed that covers and meets everything legally set out, favours competitiveness in making artisanal products, and allows their controlled commercialization throughout the European Union.