THE UK is currently ranked seventh out of 28 European member states in terms of the total number of its food and drink products recognised with protected status – currently 73 in number.

Despite concern that the protected status of products may not be recognised post-Brexit, UK officials are currently pursuing 11 more products for registration – suggesting that they at least hope there will be continued mutual recognition following the UK’s departure from the European Union, deal or no-deal.

British 'meal kit' retailer, Gousto, recently carried out research into the origins of the produce that they source for their food boxes, to see whether carrying a specific origin recognition label increased their popularity.

Analysing information via social media hashtag data, they found that four out of the 10 most popular protected foods are cheese, including the UK’s stilton variety.

Italy and France topped the chart in terms of their total numbers of registered products with 299 and 249 respectively. France is currently awaiting recognition of 42 more products, with the UK putting forward 11 applications, including that of Anglesey sea salt.

It was only this past month that the European Commission approved the addition of Ayrshire New Potatoes or ‘Ayrshire Earlies’ in the register of Protected Geographical Indication, after a two-year campaign to protect the special Scottish regional variety.

https://www.gousto.co.uk/blog/top-10-foods-protected-status