A gaggle representing Quebec’s dairy trade says it is eyeing a particular designation — much like the one utilized to Bordeaux wine or champagne — for the squeaky cheese curds greatest often called a key ingredient in poutine.
The Conseil des Industriels laitiers du Québec is in search of a protected geographical indication — a standing much like a trademark that hyperlinks merchandise to a selected area — for “Quebec poutine cheese.”
A protected indication “is a public mental property proper that’s defended by the state,” explains Marjolaine Mondon, a mission coordinator on the Conseil des appellations réservées et des termes valorisants — CARTV — a bunch that oversees product designations within the province.
At the moment, merchandise which have the designation embody Quebec icewine, Neuville candy corn and Charlevoix lamb.
With a purpose to get the protected standing, a product needs to be linked to the territory the place it is produced and “possess a selected high quality, a fame or one other attribute that’s attributable to its geographical origin,” Mondon mentioned.
For Charles Langlois, the top of the Conseil des Industriels laitiers du Québec, the purpose is to guard Quebec’s meals heritage and see what number of producers are inquisitive about having their curds licensed.
“It is also our … ‘nationwide’ dish, which is a part of our heritage, and we wish to have the ability to inform exterior customers that if you’d like the unique, you want Quebec cheese curds with the reserved designation seal,” he mentioned.
Different merchandise all over the world have related designations, famously France’s glowing wine often called champagne, which obtained the standing in 1936. In line with the French authorities, merchandise labelled “champagne” should come from a selected geographic space in northeast France extending over 5 departments from “vineyards planted at elevations between 90 and 300 metres and composed primarily of chalky soils.”
Langlois mentioned the designation may even assist promote Quebec cheese curds internationally, at a time when poutine is changing into more and more standard exterior the province’s borders.
“There’s an curiosity within the American market in sure high-value eating places for extra area of interest merchandise, specialty merchandise,” he mentioned. “And likewise in Europe, particularly in France and Germany.”
There are nonetheless a number of steps to go earlier than a protected geographical indication may be granted. The dairy group has to formally current their request to the CARTV. Quebec regulation, which governs the certification course of, stipulates that the CARTV should maintain public consultations on the request for designation.
After the standing is obtained, the CARTV has “powers of inspection and monitoring as soon as the merchandise are available on the market. There are monitoring plans for public markets, web sites, on-line marketplaces, companies, kiosks, and naturally all shops, to make sure that the designation is getting used accurately.”
Langlois, in the meantime, mentioned the initiative is effectively underway, and each he and Mondon consider they might have a call by 2027.
Mondon notes that the designation is not simple to get, and the method must decide the exact qualities the product might want to meet to be licensed, together with the way it melts, its warmth resistance, and possibly even how squeaky it’s.
An unbiased physique may even need to evaluate every producer’s certification on an annual foundation to make sure they meet the usual.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 5, 2026.