Protected Geographical Indication Research Articles

Geographical differentiation of feta cheese from northern Greece based on physicochemical parameters, volatile compounds and fatty acids

The present study aimed to differentiate feta cheese samples produced in northern Greece according to geographical origin. In 2006 the EU, through Council Regulation (EC) 510/2006 succeeded in giving a competitive advantage to the quality and diversity of the Union's agricultural production by adopting PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) regulations among EU members. Feta cheese has been approved as a Greek PDO product in 2008. Feta cheese samples from the regions of Ioannina, Arta, Thessaloniki, Larissa and Evros, were subjected to physicochemical, fatty acid and volatile compounds analyses. Using multivariate statistical analysis (MANOVA/LDA) and the cross-validation method, cheese samples achieved a correct classification rate of 61.8%, 65.8% and 88.2% based on physicochemical parameters, volatile profile and fatty acid composition, respectively. Fatty acids were the most efficient parameters for the differentiation of cheese samples. When all three above parameters were combined the correct classification rate of cheese samples increased to 89.5%.

Geographical indications in the wine industry: does it matter for South Africa?

Purpose This paper aims to assess the impact of protected geographical indications (GIs) on the trade performance of South Africa’s wine industry within the European Union (EU). This is critical in enhancing informed policy decisions towards securing more GIs for wines and other products. The unearthed evidence may provide a basis for more government interventions in support of the initiative while protecting the good reputation in communities where production occurs. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the gravity flow model framework. The Rand value of wine exports was used as a trade performance measure whereas GIs data was extracted from the E-Bacchus database, and three proxies are used to capture the GIs variable. Findings GIs foster South Africa’s wine exports into the EU. When GIs were proxied as a dummy variable, results suggest that GIs led to about 170% increase in wine exports. However, when the actual number of GIs was used, the estimate also indicates 0.7% rise in exports, whereas using the difference between South Africa’s and the EU’s number of GIs, results suggest that GIs are associated with 87% increase in wine exports. Research limitations/implications This paper did not take into consideration protected designation of origins (PDOs) on the side of the Europe given that South Africa has no registered PDOs. Further research at industry level should be undertaken to ascertain whether some of South Africa’s wine meets the specifications required to register as a PDO. Originality/value This paper adds empirical evidence to the existing literature on the competitiveness of South Africa’s wine industry. The role of GIs in international markets remains a silent feature in the literature yet the industry exhibits an outstanding footprint in GIs. This paper, in part, responds to Biénabe and Marie-Vivien’s (2017) recognition for the need for interdisciplinary empirical analyses to better understand the GI concept. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to analyse the impact of GIs on the industry’s trade performance.

Study on ultra-structural effects caused by Onion yellow dwarf virus infection in ‘Rossa di Tropea’ onion bulb by means of magnetic resonance imaging

‘Rossa di Tropea’ onion is a particular pink/red coloured onion cultivated in Calabria region (Southern Italy), representing one of the Italian most important vegetable crops granted with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) trademarks. This local cultivar is characterised by a high nutraceutical compounds content showing anti-inflammatory, anti-cholesterol, anticancer and antioxidant properties. As all vegetable crops and Allium spp., ‘Rossa di Tropea’ onion is affected by several viruses. Among these, the species Onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV, genus Potyvirus, family Potyviridae), represents the most limiting biotic stress, inducing severe symptoms. OYDV effect on tissues architecture in whole bulbs was investigated using magnetic resonance microimaging (MRI) technique, which allows the interior of samples to be imaged non-invasively and non-destructively and yields quantitative information on physico-chemical parameters describing water mobility (T1 and T2 relaxation times). The use of such tool allowed to determine how OYDV alters plant physiology by inducing water accumulation in bulb tissues as well as causing ultra-structural modifications of cell wall, highlighted by MRI. All these effects resulted in an increase of free water in plant tissues, and consequently relevant water losses during post-harvest storage, seriously affecting bulb quality, marketability and shelf life.

Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin linked Agricultural Products: Current Statistics from Turkey

Geographical indications and designation of origins is an industrial property right describing a product originated from any region or attributable to any region due to its quality, reputation or other characteristics. Particularly, the geographical indications (GI) provide information about the raw material or final products‘ geographical roots to consumers and characterize the degree of its quality. Two types of GI were defined: Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). On the other hand, the products that cannot be registered as a designation of origin or geographical indication could be registered as Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) products specialty guaranteed if it can be proven that the product is on the traditional market for at least 30 years. The main goal of this research is to examine Turkey‘s current status about labelled geographic agricultural material with a comparative statistic overview.

Are Protected Geographical Indications Evolving Due to Environmentally Related Justifications? An Analysis of Amendments in the Fruit and Vegetable Sector in the European Union

Protected designations of origin (PDO) and Protected geographical indications (PGI) in the European Union have been recognized through a sound legal framework for more than three decades. We are recently witnessing an increased number of amendments to the product specifications of registered PDO/PGI. This paper aims to understand how PDO/PGI for the fruit and vegetables product class have evolved. Until 31 December 2018, there were 379 PDO/PGI registered under the fruit and vegetables product class and 81 amendments approved. We designed a coding guideline to: (i) analyze all the amendments to the product specifications; (ii) identify the type of rules that were modified; (iii) find out whether the amendments resulted in more flexible or more restrictive rules, and (iv) the respective justifications given by producers. We designed a database to manage all the information. Overall, amendments brought more flexible rules (particularly in Italy and Spain), while France showed a more diversified situation. Concerning the justifications stated by producers for amending the product specification, market changes, available new technology, and strengthening product quality were the most important, while environmental concerns were less relevant. Then, we in-depth analyzed the amendments that were explicitly justified with environmental reasons. The analysis showed only a light movement towards more environment-friendly rules, although environmental justifications were often used “indirectly”, as a means to achieve better marketing competitiveness, meeting new market demand and reducing production costs. These results seem consistent with previous studies, which indicated market forces as a primary motivation to amend product specifications.

Sr isotope composition of Golden Delicious apples in Northern Italy reflects the soil 87 Sr/86 Sr ratio of the cultivation area.

BACKGROUNDApples have a leading role in the Italian fruit sector, and high‐quality apples, including the Golden Delicious variety, are cultivated mainly in the Northern mountain districts. In the present study, Golden Delicious apples from PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) cultivation districts were characterized according to their Sr isotope composition and compared with apples from other Northern Italian districts.RESULTSApples collected in two consecutive years (2017 and 2018) confirmed the low annual variability of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio. The isotope ratio of apples was highly correlated with that of the soil extracts of the respective orchards. Statistical differences were highlighted between cultivation districts. However, because similar geological features characterized some areas, their ratios overlapped and a complete separation of the districts was not possible.CONCLUSIONThe 87Sr/86Sr ratio is an excellent marker for studies of food traceability because it retains the information about the place of origin. However, its strength is limited when comparing products from cultivation areas sharing similar geological features. In the perspective of geographical traceability, a multichemical characterization can overcome the limits of single‐parameter approach. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Geographical Indications and Price Volatility Dynamics of Lamb Prices in Spain

For decades, food quality standards have attracted the interest of governance institutions and regulation authorities, who have responded to the increasing and demanding societal challenges. In addition, the open debate on significant variability and unusually high levels of agrifood prices recorded in 2007 and later in 2011 affect the behavior of the chain actors involved. As an attempt to bring together these wide concerns within a quantitative framework, a comparative analysis of the performance of the price volatility dynamics allowing for asymmetric behavior along the supply chain of a protected geographical indication (PGI)-certified lamb and its corresponding non-PGI counterpart, both located in the same region of Spain, was undertaken using weekly farm-retail prices for the period 2011–2018. The results indicate the existence of significant volatilities and an asymmetric transmission mechanism along the non-PGI-certified lamb supply chain, whereas the PGI-certified supply chain is impacted by volatility effects, yet characterized by symmetric behavior, which may suggest a high degree of relative market efficiency.

Milk somatic cell count and its relationship with milk yield and quality traits in Italian water buffaloes

In Southern Italy, buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) milk is mostly intended for the manufacture of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) cheese. Despite the economic boost of the last 2 decades, the buffalo farming system should be improved to maximize the efficiency of the dairy industry, improve yield and quality of milk and cheese, and work toward better animal welfare. Milk somatic cell count (SCC) is used worldwide as an indicator of udder health in individual milk and is useful for monitoring farm hygiene in bulk milk. Mastitis data are currently not available on a large scale in Italy; thus, SCC is essential for identifying animals with suspected udder infection and inflammation. Moreover, high milk SCC is associated with altered composition and acidity, and poor technological properties of milk. However, payment systems of the PDO area are based simply on the delivered volume of milk rather than on quality characteristics. Hence, currently there are no penalties for elevated SCC in bulk milk in the Italian buffalo dairy industry. In addition, SCC for buffalo milk is not mentioned by either the European Community regulations or the PDO protocol, evidencing a lack of rules for the maximum SCC limit. To provide a phenotypic characterization of SCC at the population level and to improve knowledge on buffalo milk quality, 876,299 test-day records of 70,156 buffaloes reared in the PDO area were analyzed. Data revealed that around 11% of herd-test-dates (≥5 animals sampled each) showed average milk SCC ≥400,000 cells/mL (i.e., above the threshold fixed by the European Community for bovine milk). This suggests that there is room to improve SCC at both the farm and individual level. Within first parity, more than 28 and 15% of lactations had average SCC ≥200,000 and ≥300,000 cells/mL, respectively. Both percentages increased with parity and were 39 and 25% in sixth parity, respectively. Supporting this, the proportion of lactations with average SCC ≥500,000 cells/mL increased from 6% in first parity to 12% in sixth parity. Milk yield and SCC were negatively correlated with each other, especially when SCC level was high. An ANOVA was carried out on test-day record milk yield and composition traits, with fixed effects of parity, lactation stage, class of somatic cell score (n = 6), month of calving, and their interactions; buffalo, herd-test-date, and residual were considered random effects. Significantly lower milk yield and lactose percentage were estimated in progressively higher classes of somatic cell score, whereas no significant differences were observed for fat and protein percentages. This is the first attempt to investigate milk SCC in a large data set of Italian dairy buffaloes. These findings may be helpful for defining reliable and effective SCC thresholds to be adopted whenever specific penalties for high SCC are included in milk payment systems. Finally, these results could be used in mastitis monitoring plans aiming to reduce SCC and udder issues at both the individual and farm levels in the Italian buffalo population.

Profiling of quercetin glycosides and acyl glycosides in sun-dried peperoni di Senise peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) by a combination of LC-ESI(-)-MS/MS and polarity prediction in reversed-phase separations

Interest in targeted profiling of quercetin glycoconjugates occurring in edible foodstuffs continues to expand because of their recognized beneficial health effects. Quercetin derivatives encompass several thousands of chemically distinguishable compounds, among which there are several compounds with different glycosylations and acylations. Since reference standards and dedicated databases are not available, the mass spectrometric identification of quercetin glycoconjugates is challenging. A targeted liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was applied for screening quercetin glycoconjugates in edible peperoni di Senise peppers (Capsicum annuum L.), protected by the European Union with the mark PGI (i.e., Protected Geographical Indication), and cultivated in Basilicata (Southern Italy). Chromatographic separation was accomplished by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) using water/acetonitrile as the mobile phase and detection was performed on a linear ion trap mass spectrometer fitted with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source operating in negative ion mode. A correlation between experimental RP chromatographic retention time and those predicted by partition coefficients (log P) along with MS/MS data and an in-house developed database (named QUEdb) provided deep coverage for sixteen quercetin glycoconjugates. Among them, eleven quercetin glycoconjugates were already described in the literature and five were reported for the first time. These last acyl glycosidic quercetin derivatives were tentatively identified as quercetin-(galloyl-rhamnoside)-hexoside, [C34H33O20]- at m/z 761.1; quercetin-(sinapoyl-hexoside)-rhamnoside, [C38H39O20]- at m/z 815.4; quercetin-(galloyl-caffeoyl-hexoside)-rhamnoside, [C43H39O23]- at m/z 923.0; quercetin-(feruloyl-hexoside)-rhamnoside, [C37H37O19]- at m/z 785.1; and quercetin-(succinyl-rhamnoside)-rhamnoside, [C31H33O18]- at m/z 693.1. Graphical abstract.

Is there any still undisclosed biodiversity in Ciauscolo salami? A new glance into the microbiota of an artisan production as revealed by high-throughput sequencing

Ciauscolo is a fermented sausage with the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status. To disclose the microbial ecology of a model Ciauscolo salami manufacture during its natural fermentation, viable counting, amplicon-based sequencing and real-time PCR were applied. The volatilome during fermentation was also characterized. The results allowed previously undetected species to be discovered. The core microbiota was composed by Lactobacillus algidus, Leuconostoc carnosum, Lactobacillus sakei, Debaryomyces hansenii, Glomus hyderabadensis, Tilletiopsis washingtonensis, and Kurtzmaniella zeylanoides. Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes were absent in all the samples; moreover, multiplex real-time PCR revealed the absence of the target genes bont/A, bont/B, bont/E, bont/F, and 4gyrB (CP), encoding botulinic toxins. Volatilome, deeply depending on microbiological metabolism, was characterized by spices-derived components. Limonene, sabinene, α- and β-pinene, 3-carene, and α-thujene were the most represented monoterpene hydrocarbons, whereas β- and α-copaene were the most represented sesquiterpene hydrocarbons. Allyl methyl sulphide and diallyl disulphide were the major aliphatic sulphur compounds, together with diallyl sulphide and allyl methyl disulphide.

Effects of Inclusion of Fresh Forage in the Diet for Lactating Buffaloes on Volatile Organic Compounds of Milk and Mozzarella Cheese.

This paper aimed to assess the effects of feeding fresh forage on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of buffalo milk and mozzarella cheese. Sixteen lactating buffaloes were equally allotted into two groups fed diets containing (experimental (Exp) group) or not (control (Ctl) group) 20 kg/d of fresh sorghum. Milk from the groups was separately collected and transformed in the traditional ‘Mozzarella di Bufala Campana’ Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO). Three batches of mozzarella were produced for each diet and they were analyzed, along with the two bulks of milk, for VOC composition, by using solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coupled with gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The use of fresh forage increased the levels of long chain fatty acids along with the contents of aldehydes, and this could be responsible for an increase in green notes of milk. The use of the Ctl diet, containing a higher proportion of silage, increased the ketones, acids, and esters, which are compounds that could raise the cheese and fruity notes of milk. The mozzarella was less affected by the dietary treatment than milk. The use of fresh forage (sorghum) enhanced the green notes of milk and induced a few changes in the VOC profile of the typical PDO Mozzarella di Bufala Campana cheese, that were nonetheless detectable by sensory analysis. The low level found for butanoic acid, 2,3-pentanedione, and propyl acetate in mozzarella cheese obtained with fresh forage diet can lead to perceive less the olfactory notes of cheese, cream, and fruit.

Consumers' Valuation of Geographical Indication‐Labeled Food: The Case of Hom Mali Rice in Bangkok*

This study investigated consumers' valuation of geographical indication (GI) and protected geographical indication (PGI)‐labeled rice in Bangkok using a non‐hypothetical experimental auction in a field setting. We also examined the effects of sequentially providing information about geographical indications on product valuation. The results suggest that consumers are willing to pay premiums for rice with geographical certifications, with the highest premium for the rice with both GI and PGI certifications. The provision of detailed information about the geographical indications further increases the premiums. However, consumers suffer a welfare loss under the current high market prices for rice with geographical certifications. A price reduction of approximately 10 percent would be needed to gain consumer welfare from the introduction of GI and PGI certification.

New grape varieties for production of high-quality wines, and assessment methodology for varietal characteristics of the product

In recent years, Russian and international breeders have produced a great many of new varieties of Vitis vinifera grapes as well as interspecies hybrids, distinguished by a high quality of fruit and other useful economic and biological features. Having a big reserve of technologically important substances and hygienic factors of grapevine, the resistant varieties may prove especially efficient for the production of premium-class wines. The appearance of high-end Russian wines with protected geographical indication (PGI) and protected appellation of origin (PAO), first of all, fits in with the requirements of international markets. It is a necessary criterion for product quality and safety assurance at the highly competitive global market, and development of universally recognized brands. It also helps resolve a number of socio-economic issues, such as formation of winemaking culture, and production of wines of guaranteed quality from own grapes. This study is devoted to substantiating the necessity for development of methods of formation of single information databases on characteristic features of PGI and PAO wines, including their distinctive organoleptic, physical and chemical properties (extract components – the cation-anion composition, organic acids, total phenolic and anthocyanin content; unique colour characteristics), as well as the application of the system of organoleptic assessment of wines with the use of descriptive analysis of wine colour, flavour and taste. It is well-timed and relevant to determine the regularities of realization of the varietal potential of a grapevine plant in terms of climatic conditions of growing and geographical origin based on the study of the endogenous and exogenous components of wines with the use of the methods of high-performance capillary electrophoresis, spectral photometry, organoleptic analysis, and statistical techniques. This research generalizes and puts forth a contemporary view of varietal and geographical identification of wines. It is shown that the proposed research guideline is highly sought-after, and it is of fundamental and practical importance for the development of regional and national selection, genetic, viticultural and winemaking industries.

РОЗВИТОК ІНФРАСТРУКТУРИ РИНКУ ВИСОКОЯКІСНОЇ ПРОДУКЦІЇ ТВАРИННИЦТВА В УКРАЇНІ

Introduction The lack of effective infrastructure elements, especially forms of wholesale trade in high-quality livestock products (PA), is an important destabilizing factor. At the stage of wholesale and retail trade, flows of high quality livestock products are often mixed with flows of counterfeit products. As a result, consumers of livestock products remain disoriented, and producers of high quality products do not have guaranteed sales channels for their products. Thus, the formation of a full-fledged infrastructure is one of the necessary prerequisites for the development of the market of high quality livestock products. Purpose of the article is to develop a theoretical, methodological and empirical basis for the development of market infrastructure for high quality livestock products in Ukraine . Results . The study has substantiated the algorithm of improvement of economic relations between members of integrated formations in animal husbandry which should be based on distributive relations on the basis of transfer pricing. The authors emphasize that the improvement of relations between producers and processing enterprises (food industry enterprises) in the market of high-quality livestock products should be based on the use of indicative price tools. Algorithms for calculating indicative prices for high quality livestock products have also been offered by the authors. The authors’ proposal to introduce a mechanism of indicative prices and indicative planning in the market of livestock products should increase the share of producers in the price of final products, lead to the emergence of the necessary investment resources to intensify production and implement quality management systems. Indicative planning based on the proposed model will reduce the price of high quality final products, make it more affordable for consumers. The formulas for calculating prices for high-quality livestock products - livestock products with protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), traditionally guaranteed feature (TGF), as well as organic livestock products are proposed. The mechanisms of coordination of joint actions of agricultural producers in the markets of high-quality livestock products on the basis of their creation of district service and marketing cooperatives (DSMC) have also been substantiated. Theoretical model of theoretical model of formation and functioning of DSMC is substantiated. The study as well offers the mechanism of conducting auctions on sale of whole milk on the basis of DSMC. Originality . The study has improved the algorithms of transfer pricing by state bodies setting indicative prices for high-quality livestock products. The authors offer to calculate the value of the indicative price on the basis of the use of the reverse model of calculation of indicative prices improved by the authors. In this model, the cost of agricultural raw materials is determined in reverse order: retail price of final products → selling and wholesale price of final products → costs of processing agricultural raw materials → indicative (transfer) price of agricultural raw materials (livestock products). The reverse model makes it possible, first, to determine the contribution of each participant in the price chain in the value of the final product; secondly, to prevent price discrimination of producers due to understatement of purchase prices; thirdly, to prevent tax evasion and the accumulation of value added in offshore areas due to understatement of transfer prices for the export of food of animal origin. Conclusions . It was found that the a ttempts to assess the effectiveness of the livestock products market infrastructure only from the standpoint of a monosystem approach may lead to unfounded conclusions. After all, it may turn out that seemingly successful (super-profitable) elements of the system practically do not perform their functions. The same applies to promoting the growth of quality parameters of products. The efficiency of the livestock products market infrastructure (one of the main functions of which is integrating and servicing) is an external attribute and characteristic to this system. Within the framework of the polysystem approach, the system efficiency indicators (profitability of livestock products production, product quality parameters, price level for high-quality products purchased from producers and final products purchased by consumers, consumption of food of animal origin per capita, etc.) are functional. Their main advantage is the unambiguous connection with the functions of the system and the dependence on the effectiveness of the relationship between infrastructure elements and elements of the super system (agricultural producers and consumers, the state). Accordingly, this should determine the specifics of the study of the infrastructure of the livestock products market and the effectiveness of its operation, as well as public policy to promote its development.

New data on the ecological distribution ofEuphorbia resiniferaO.Berg in the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region

Euphorbia resiniferaO. Berg, also called Euphorbusresin, is a species belonging to the Euphorbiaceae family. It is endemic to the Beni Mellal Khenifra region and extends discontinuously between El Ksiba and Demnate. Currently, this plant is known as a meliferous species and its product is considered as a terroir product with a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). However, few studies have conducted on its ecology and particularly its mapping in relation to the environmental conditionswhere it thrives. That’s why in this study, we tried to establish, for the first time in the region of Beni Mellal, a distribution mapping of E.resiniferaaccording to the ecological needs of the plant, the exploration of high-resolution satellite imagery and on the field by observing a representative sample of the study area. Results showed that it spread from Demnate to Elksiba in the Atlas piedmont area but appears as scattered individuals from Demnate to AitOurir due to a complexity of factors mainly related to the soil characteristics, paleogeography and the climate exacerbated by the negative results of anthropogenic impacts. It extends also into the central high Atlas valley as small isolated units which reach 1900 m of altitude. This could explain why other ecological requirements should be considered in terms of the distribution of this endemic species in the context of climate change.

Determination of Metals in Grape Marc Spirits by Magnetic Solid-Phase Extraction Combined With Capillary Electrophoresis. Comparison of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Silica Nanoparticles

A procedure based on magnetic solid-phase extraction followed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been developed for the determination of Zn, Cu, Mn and Cd in grape marc spirit samples. Two different sorbents, carboxylic group functionalized silica nanoparticles (Si-COOH-NPs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), were compared. Separation and quantification of the metals by CE were performed after their complexation with phenanthroline. The optimization of variables affecting the extraction procedure was carried out to achieve the best extraction efficiency. Both sorbents yielded quantitative (recoveries in the ranges of 98–102 and 79–92% for Si-COOH-NPs and MWCNTs, respectively), precise (RSD < 7.5%), sensitive (LODs between 0.5–2.2 and 5–9 μg/L for Si-COOH-NPs and MWCNTs, respectively) results with linearity over one order of magnitude. The application of both sorbents for the extraction of metals from grape marc spirit samples with European protected geographical indication Orujo de Galicia showed that carboxylic functionalized silica particles provided the best results. However, MWCNTs remain an attractive alternative sorbent.

Lipid Profiling and Stable Isotopic Data Analysis for Differentiation of Extra Virgin Olive Oils Based on Their Origin.

To differentiate extra virgin olive oils (EVOO) according to the origin of purchase, such as monocultivar Italian EVOO with protected denomination of origin (PDO) and commercially-blended EVOO purchased in supermarkets, a number of samples was subjected to the analysis of various lipid species by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS, LC-ESI-IT-MS) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance analysis (1H-NMR). Many putative chemical markers were extracted as differentiators by uni- and multivariate statistical analysis. Commercially-blended EVOO contained higher concentrations of the majority of minor lipids, including free fatty acids, their alkyl (methyl and ethyl) esters, monoglycerides, and diglycerides, which may be indicative of a higher degree of triglyceride lipolysis in these than in monocultivar PDO EVOO. Triterpenoids and particular TAG species were also found in higher proportions in the samples from the commercially-blended EVOO class, suggesting a possible influence of factors such as the cultivar and geographical origin. The largest differences between the classes were determined for the concentrations of uvaol and oleanolic acid. The results of the analysis by isotopic ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) were reasonably consistent with the information about the geographical origin declared on the labels of the investigated EVOOs, showing considerable variability, which possibly also contributed to the differences in lipid composition observed between the two investigated classes of EVOO.

Sui Generis Geographical Indications for the Protection of Non-Agricultural Products in the EU: Can the Quality Schemes Fulfil the Task?

This paper analyses the suitability of the extension of the EU quality schemes – Protected Designations of Origin (PDOs) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs) – to the protection of non-agricultural products. In particular, the work develops an original investigation on the nature of these goods and assesses whether it is compatible with the scope of protection of the EU sui generis GI system, which is determined by the different origin link that characterises the two abovementioned quality schemes. The research, by applying a mixed comparative/empirical methodology and building upon a previously unpublished dataset, develops an analysis divided into three parts, reaching the following conclusions. First, if sui generis GIs were chosen as the means to protect non-agricultural products, the French legislation on the sui generis protection of handcrafts should be considered as the best practice. Second, the empirical analysis shows that, since non-agricultural goods are characterised by a loose link to a specific place, predominantly based on the on the product’s history and on its distinctive traditional method of production, PGIs seem to be fit for the purpose. Indeed, the analysis of a sample of non-terroir agricultural products protected by PGIs will highlight this parallelism. Third, evidence shows that PDOs could be useful only in a small number of cases while the rationale of Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSGs), despite not being origin labels, can be useful to define products that cannot be linked to a specific area by physical or natural elements. Therefore, the EU legislator should take these elements into consideration if it decides to extend the EU GI regime to non-agricultural products.

Blood orange (Citrus sinensis) as a rich source of nutraceuticals: investigation of bioactive compounds in different parts of the fruit by HPLC-PDA/MS

This study is part of a wider investigation aimed to sustain the economical value of the by-products generated by the Citrus industry. In particular, the protected geographic indication (PGI) red orange of sicily (known as blood orange) has been analysed by HPLC and by the enzymatic AOAC method. All the by-products contain significant amounts of biologically active compounds (limonoids and flavonoids). The decanted pulps were the most abundant, with the highest amount of flavonoids (130 g/kg) and high amount of limonoids (5.5 g/kg). Seeds were the best source of limonoids with about 10 g/kg. Low amount of anthocyanins were found only in coarse pulps and waste water. The total, the insoluble and the soluble dietary fibre (TDF, IDF and SDF respectively) were also determined. The pulps resulted to be the best source of dietary fibre, based on the amount and on the best insoluble/soluble ratio.

Chestnut shells (Italian cultivar "Marrone di Roccadaspide" PGI): Antioxidant activity and chemical investigation with in depth LC-HRMS/MSn rationalization of tannins.

In Italy a particularly valuable chestnut is "Marrone di Roccadaspide", a protected geographical indication (PGI) product, deriving from a Castanea sativa cultivar, typical of Salerno province in Campania region. As chestnut industrial processes yield a large amount of shell by-products, in this study the possibility to retrain this waste food as potential source of bioactives was investigated. The ability of "Marrone di Roccadaspide" shell MeOH extract to modulate the pro-inflammatory transcriptional factor NF-κB after LPS stimulation, along with the antioxidant activity by a cell-based in vitro test, were evaluated. To correlate the NF-κB inhibition (67.67% at 5μg/mL) and the strong antioxidant activity to the chemical composition, an analytical approach based on LC-ESI/LTQOrbitrap/MS/MSn along with NMR characterization of isolated compounds was developed. The identification of hydrolysable and condensed tannins, along with flavonoids, phenol glucosides, ellagic acid derivatives, and triterpenoids was accomplished. The most representative compounds were quantitatively analyzed by LC-ESI/QTrap/MS/MS, showing bartogenic acid as the compound occurring in the highest amount (103.08mg/100g shells). With the aim to explore the possibility to employ chestnut shells as suitable source of bioactives for the preparation of functional ingredients, the chemical composition and the antioxidant activity of "eco-friendly" extracts (EtOH and EtOH:H2O 7:3) was finally evaluated, showing a high superimposability of the EtOH:H2O (7:3) extract to the MeOH extract.