Costa Rica News – Costa Rica has been found lacking structure needed to take care of products with denomination of origin in the market. Specialists from Spain were here to investigate and they warned that there is no entity responsible for managing or protecting the authenticity of these products.
Some of these products are Turrialba cheeses and Guanacaste ceramics. Turrialba cheese was the first Costa Rican product to obtain a concession as a denomination of origin, in 2012. This process protects its characteristics. It took over six years to complete the process.
The specialists recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock be the entity in charge of supervising the start-up in the market of both denominations of origin and geographical indications. With adequate regulation these products will be more protected from others using their names.
A denomination of origin protects characteristics like type of soil, water, climate, altitude, species, as well as cultural practices in the region. The coffee producers of Los Santos are in the final stage of the process while Tarrazú coffee is in the stage of review by a panel of specialists.
