Foreign Geographical Indications, Consumer Preferences, and the Domestic Market for Cheese

Abstract

The protection of geographical indications (GIs) is an important feature of modern trade agreements. In the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), Canada agreed to stronger protections for GIs of European cheeses and other food products. Under this agreement, new Canadian producers can no longer label cheese as "feta" but instead must refer to it as "imitation feta," "feta style," or "feta type." We use a choice experiment to determine the effect of this agreement on Canadian cheese producers. We find that the effect of GI recognition varies depending on the terms used to label Canadian cheese and the information given to consumers. The results imply that policies that give greater latitude to food marketers will weaken the impact of GI recognition.

Consumer Preferences for Country‐of‐Origin Labeling in Protected Markets: Evidence from the Canadian Dairy Market

“…Results are consistent with previous findings that show consumers may be willing to pay a premium for domestically produced meat (Alfnes 2004;Lim et al 2014;Balcombe et al 2016) and dairy products (Chryssochoidis et al 2007; Tempesta and Vecchiato 2013; Table 4 Willingness to pay across attributes and products (1.71%) Note: *** , ** , * represent significance at 1%, 5%, and 10%, respectively. -Brown et al 2016;Salamon et al 2016;Slade et al 2019). We contribute to this literature by using a relatively well-insulated market (i.e., the market for selected processed dairy products in Canada) to understand how lessening of border measures (i.e., increased market access commitments) could lead to greater prevalence of imported product.…”

“…Slade et al (2019) investigate the effect of labeling speciality cheese in Canada with the terms "imitation," "style," and "type" after new rules protecting geographic indicators were laid out in the CETA. They found that providing survey respondents with information about why cheeses were labeled with one of the three terms mitigated discounting when compared to European cheese without such terms (Slade et al 2019). While only a few studies explore preferences for COO labels in the Canadian dairy market, there is a broader COO related literature.…”

Label information and consumer behaviour: evidence on drinking milk sector

“…It is also certain that the correct production of a label allows a correct marketing of the product inside a country but also in relation to exports (Jansen and Lince de Faria 2002). Label information can also influence consumers' preferences, behaviours, and willingness to pay towards food products, especially if this information is provided through a certification (Slade et al 2019;Rihn et al 2019;Choi et al 2018;Scozzafava et al 2020). In particular, the origin of the product, which is usually considered an indicator of quality (Dekhili and d'Hauteville 2009;Di Vita et al 2013), is important for consumers (Perito et al 2019;Fraser and Balcombe 2018;Yin et al 2018;Grebitus et al 2018).…”

Do Consumers Really Care? An Economic Analysis of Consumer Attitudes Towards Food Produced Using Prohibited Production Methods

“…However, this bias can be reduced by the provision of other information. For example, Slade et al (2019) report that Canadian consumers positively value imports of dairy products if accompanied by geographical indications (GIs). In contrast, Norris and Cranfield (2019) note that Canadian consumers require a significant price discount to buy imported dairy products as a result of a new trade deal with the EU.…”