FOOD WARS: ANALYSING THE GI DISPUTES IN FOOD AND CULINARY REALM

AUTHOR – MAANSI AHUJA, LLM STUDENT AT UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW AND LEGAL STUDIES, GGSIPU

BEST CITATION – MAANSI AHUJA, FOOD WARS: ANALYSING THE GI DISPUTES IN FOOD AND CULINARY REALM, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 5 (8) OF 2025, PG. 466-472, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

Food and cuisine form an essential part of the cultural fabric of any society and is intricately linked with daily social life of the populace of a country. Due to the cultural significance and economic contribution of the food industry, countries will want to distinguish its products from the other homogenous varieties available in the market. Geographical Indication, a type of IPR protecting the communities, is often used to distinguish products based on their place of origin and qualities attributable to those products. Many agricultural as well as manufactured & processed products in the realm of food have been granted protection under the GI tag around the globe, but the disputes have subsisted between the nation states. This is because the framework governing Geographical Indication is complex and ambiguous with different countries following a different system for indication of geographical origin. This paper shall discuss various GI disputes within the culinary realm including Feta dispute between Greece and other EU countries, Pisco conflict between Peru and Chile as well as intra-country disputes like Miso in Japan and Rasgulla in India and discuss the economic and cultural significance of the same.

 Keywords: Cuisine, Geographical Indication, cultural significance, homogenous products, Inter-country & intra-country disputes