The EU's protected food and drink names do two jobs: they defend real traditions, and they give trade negotiators chips to spend.
In 2022 the Court of Justice ruled against Denmark over dairies selling "Feta" outside the EU. On 1 May the EU's Mercosur deal gave Argentine, Brazilian and Uruguayan producers seven more years of it.
- Of the 344 names protected in that deal, 30 are on a clock of five, seven or ten years.
- Nine are on a permanent list of prior users, 33 Argentine firms for parmesano alone, each given twelve months to meet conditions. Three of the nine are on both.
- France took 35 percent of sales value in 2017 and 47.5 percent of the value premium.
Every phase-out carries one condition: say where the thing came from.
