[gambiting]

In the EU if something is called "Greek yoghurt" it has to come from Greece. Otherwise it's "greek-style yoghurt". Similarily, if something is called "aloe vera juice" it has to contain aloe vera. Really simple, yet I've had many comments on HN opposing the idea of making it law(especially from US, weirdly).

[rconti]

I haven't seen a lot of people in the US defending companies passing off mislabeled products.

As for your yogurt example, perhaps it's because it's less important to those of us who live really far from Greece. It might not even be desirable to have yogurt that was shipped halfway around the world!

Is it yogurt made from Greek people? Is it yogurt made by a Greek company located in Spain? Yogurt made from Greek dairy, outside of Greece? Yogurt made in Greece from Italian milk? Yogurt made in Greece from Greek milk, but in the Australian style? I can think of all kinds of reasons folks half a world away would care much more about what style the product is, than would care about where, precisely, it was produced.

Of course, when you're in a trade union with a country that has a vested interest in having a monopoly on a product, obviously they're going to be pushing semantics in order to come out on top.

For those of us not so close to Greece, having to call it Greek-style yogurt is just more word soup. (also, this happens all the time in the US; the 'Greek' would be written really large and then 'style' in much smaller letters)

OTOH, it's pretty clear-cut in the case of a product that claims to contain a natural ingredient, but have none of it, and not even have any semblance of the benefits of the actual product.

[vdnkh]

> perhaps it's because it's less important to those of us who live really far from Greece

I'd argue this isn't true. Greek yogurt has distinct style and ingredients which, when I buy Greek yogurt, I expect in my yogurt. Anything else is not what I want to spend my money on. It's like feta cheese. Real feta cheese is made from sheep's milk and not cow. It's completely different if made from cow's milk (not the same taste nor texture).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feta#Certification

[Dylan16807]

But you're not disagreeing. You're saying that the recipe is important, not the geography. That's the same thing rconti said.

[nerfhammer]

"Italian sausage" -> no one assumes it was actually made in Italy

"French wine" -> everyone would assume it was actually made in France

I don't know if there's a hard rule that anyone can come up with about this sort of thing.

[gambiting]

Ok, but if someone was selling "Arkansas beef jerky" that was actually made in Texas, I imagine that would be a problem,no?

[nommm-nommm]

Is it a problem if Buffalo wings are made outside Buffalo, New York? Do you expect Canadian bacon to be made in Saskatchewan? Should Manhattan clam chowder be made in Manhattan? Are french fries imported from France?

(I always thought "Greek" was a style of yogurt.)

[TDL]

Probably not, unless they are claiming it's a product of Arkansas. Like your example above about Italian sausage, it's a categorization of style of food, not a product from a specific locale.

[Philadelphia]

Yeah, there are things out there that are called "Philadelphia Cheesesteaks" that amuse and alarm people from Philadelphia, but no one has (sincerely) suggested outlawing them.

[sampo]

> In the EU if something is called "Greek yoghurt" it has to come from Greece.

As a counterexample, these "Greek yogurt" [1], "Turkish yogurt" [2] and "Yogurt of Bulgaria" [3] are all definitely made in Finland.

[1] http://www.valio.fi/tuotteet/jogurtit/valio-kreikkalainen-jo...

[2] http://www.valio.fi/tuotteet/jogurtit/valio-turkkilainen-jog...

[3] http://www.valio.fi/tuotteet/jogurtit/valio-bulgarian-jogurt...

[Pharylon]

I go out for Italian food all the time, and I don't expect it came from Italy. At least here in the US, saying "I'm going to eat some Chinese Noodles/Greek Yogurt/Indian Curry" implies you're only talking about the style. I think it's a slightly different situation.

[gambiting]

I've never heard of that law applying to restaurants. But if you buy a ready meal in a supermarket and it's, let's say, "italian sausage pasta" - you can be 100% certain that the sausage in it is from Italy, guaranteed.

[Vendan]

Hah, you picked a rather odd example, cause "Italian sausage", in the US at least, isn't "sausage from Italy", it's a specific kind of seasoning.

[nommm-nommm]

What if I order "French fries?"

[Grishnakh]

Here in the US, "Italian X" or "French Y" just means that's the style. There's plenty of space on most labels to indicate a country of origin, and that's exactly what they do: foods made in Italy clearly state on them "Product of Italy" or similar. In fact, some food being made in Italy or France or anywhere in Europe is generally a plus over here, so they're not shy about putting that on the label.

In short, we don't need laws limiting what you can call things, with regard to country of origin, as long as product labels clearly indicate the country of origin. I know full well the $1.00 Chobani "Greek yogurt" isn't actually made in Greece, but some Greek-named expensive yogurt at the fancy grocery store I can guess probably is, and then after checking the label a bit more closely and seeing "Product of Greece" or "Made in Greece", I know it is.

Now, if some lotion says "Aloe Vera Lotion", I expect it to be made with real aloe. I really shouldn't have to check the ingredients list (if it even has one; it's not a food so I'm not sure that's required).

[module0000]

> I've had many comments on HN opposing the idea of making it law

It's common here(in the US) for "Greek yogurt" to mean Greek-style yogurt, and we would all ask "why!?" when confronted with that regulation. However, when you read stories like this - maybe that kind of regulation is needed. I've been buying aloe from walmart/target/etc for ages, and always assumed that the ingredient list wasn't a lie - now I realize that is not always true.

edit: typo

[MRSallee]

It's maybe just differing semantics between regions. In the US, no one would reasonably expect "Greek yogurt" to come from Greece -- "Greek" would be a category or style, not an origin.

If a yogurt was labeled as "made in Greece" then it would be expected it came from Greece and would be pretty uniformly agreed as fraud / false advertising if it was learned the yogurt wasn't made in Greece.

[gtk40]

While I do not care if my Greek yogurt comes from Greece anymore than I care if my Italian sausage comes from Italy, I do care that my Greek yogurt actually is very low in lactose as someone who is lactose intolerant. Most brands are fine, some are not and I question if they're really Greek yogurt.

[johnchristopher]

Wait. It's trickier than that because you have to get your product acknowledged by the EU then you get to be authorised to use that name (if your product is compliant with the rules ofc). It's not automatic.

Among other things it was one of the point of contention regarding CETA/TTIP.

[gambiting]

No, you're thinking of regional products. So for example, there's one specific type of cheese made in one region of Polish mountains that is called "oscypek" and no other cheese can be called "oscypek", even if it's made by the same methods(or I guess a more well known example is that only sparkling wine made in Champagne region of France can be called "Champagne" legally).

What I am talking about is that every product in EU has to be what it says on the label - so Greek yoghurt has to be from Greece. French wine has to be from France. Apple juice has to contains apple juice, not just apple flavouring, etc etc.

[johnchristopher]

Oh, I thought it was the same legal package (regional products and naming). You are right though: labels can't lie about the origin of the product.