Healthy food traditions? Nutritional quality and food composition of EU geographical indications

Abstract

The EU's 'Farm to Fork' strategy aims to promote healthier diets that include more nutritious and natural foods instead of ultra-processed products. Although several producers of geographical indication (GI) foods such as Parma ham advertise their products as artisanal and healthy, little is known yet about whether GIs can contribute to these ambitions. Therefore, we examine the nutritional quality and food composition of GIs compared to non-GIs. We analyse more than 6,000 cheeses and prepared meats marketed in France. We find that in these food categories GIs are associated with lower nutritional quality based on the Nutri-Score metric. Thus, GI regulations may need to facilitate health-driven product reformulations. On the positive side, we find that GIs in the considered dairy and meat categories tend to be less likely to contain food additives and to be ultra-processed. However, this seems to be truer for Protected Designations of Origin than Protected Geographical Indications. Hence, harmonised additive rules could strengthen the natural character of GIs.