Seminar - November 2018
Regional Branding of Food Products and Food Geographical Indications
Dr Paula Caroline Zito, Associate Teacher, Adelaide Law School, The University of Adelaide
For the Food Values Research Group's October seminar, we are pleased to welcome Dr Paula Zito.
This presentation analyses the current laws and regulations in Australia that regulate the usage of Australian regional names on food products to make origin claims. It identifies their deficiencies, and problems resulting from them, for Australian regional food producers and the wider Australian food and agrifood industries. It analyses the current regulation of Australian regional names on wine labels in order to highlight the vast differences that exist, under current Australian laws, in the regulation of how regional names are used on food labels to make origin claims, compared to how regional names are used on wine labels, in the form of Geographical Indications, to make origin claims.
The presentation proposes that there is a strong case for the implementation of a sui generis food Geographical Indication framework in Australia in order to overcome the deficiencies identified with current Australian laws and regulations. The presentation explains that the proposal for an Australian sui generis food Geographical Indication framework is not only important at a national level, but also equally important at an international level, especially in the context of the recently commenced negotiations with the European Union in relation to the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement.
When: Wednesday 7th of November, 12-1 PM
Where: Ira Raymond Room, Barr Smith Library, North Terrace Campus, University of Adelaide (click here for campus map)
Paula qualified for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for her thesis entitled “Geographical Indications: What is their Worth? A Comparison of Geographical Indication Registrations Between Australia and Italy,” on 21 February 2018. She graduated at The University of Adelaide on 3 May 2018. Her supervisors were Professor Melissa de Zwart and Associate Professor Bernadette Richards.
Her thesis explores the worth of using food Geographical Indications on food products to make an origin claim in the context of a sui generis food Geographical Indication system. It assesses the value of using a sui generis food Geographical Indication system to protect the connection between Australian regional food and origin and to protect the assets that Australia has in Australia regional names as identifiers of authentic regional food products that have a clear and strong connection with Australian regions. This assessment is made against a background of significant and original fieldwork carried out in Italy and South Australia.