Catching a Rainbow

Appellation d’origine Contrôlée or, AOC is a phrase known to many who have a fondness for wine and food. The translation from French means ‘term of controlled origin’ and is a French certification granted to certain French products including wine, dairy and other agricultural based foods.

The body of people involved with evaluating, awarding and regulating this prestigious award is the government run office of the Institute National des Appellations d'Origine or the INAO.

The INAO is split into three different committees.


1. The National Committee for wine and spirits.
2. The National Committee for dairy products.
3. The National Committee for other agro foods





The first product to be regulated by a parliamentary decree was Roquefort, a cheese from southern France, in the 15th Century. This was further developed during the First World War, when a decree was passed protecting the rights of the place of origin for certain other products. The result of this declaration was that for the first time the region or even the individual communes were given the sole protected rights to produce any given product. It is for this reason that items such as Champagne, Camembert Cheese and Cider from Cornouaille in Brittany, can only be produced in strictly controlled geographical areas. Although often copied, (Somerset Brie) the copies cannot be called the same (Brie), nor purport to be the original French commodity.

The INAO is a branch of the French Ministry of Agriculture and came into being on July 30, 1935. Originally it was created to manage and protect the geographical independence within the wine industry. It ensured that only wines made in a specific area of France, a region or even in some cases a commune, could carry a specific name such as Champagne, Bordeaux or Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
In 1937 a lawyer and winegrower from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, applied for and obtained legal recognition for the Côtes du Rhône thus became the first wine in France to be granted an Appellation d’origine Contrôlée.
Although the original 15th Century concept was invented to protect a cheese, it was not until 1990 that the INAO began expanding the certification to other food products apart from wine. Today although there are 467 wines covered by an Appellation d’origine Contrôlée, there are also 47 cheese and dairy products as well as 25 other food items.

It is illegal to manufacture and sell a product if it does not comply with the criteria of the AOC and these conditions can be very specific, as is the case with Roquefort.

1. Milk cannot be used until 20 days after lambing.
2. The renneting (the addition of the coagulating agent) must take place within 48 hours-at the latest-after the last milking.
3. The cheese culture, Penicillium roqueforti used in the manufacture must itself have been produced in France.
4. The Penicillium roqueforti must come from the traditional source from the natural caves within the commune.
5. Only dry salt can be used for the salting process.
6. The producers of the cheese must keep accurate records, available for inspection by the committee showing the quantities of milk delivered to the manufacturers of the cheese, as well as the number and weight of all the cheeses made, daily.
7. Every step of the production as well as the storage and refrigeration prior to shipping must take place with in the commune of Roquefort.

Only thus, can it be assured, that a Roquefort cheese is and will always remain Roquefort.
Once a product is awarded an AOC it is entitled to include a seal or certificate on the products packaging and no part of this design, which in itself has to be authorised, can be used on any other product not awarded the AOC.


Why have the AOC?

In many ways the AOC is an award, which all food, wine and dairy producers should be striving for. It is recognition of a regions entitlement to safeguard and protect its local heritage, independent of national idiosyncrasies.
It is a guarantee that the product, whatever it may be, has been manufactured in the same way for generations and in some cases hundreds of years or, if a recent addition; that the methods of production will be preserved for future generations.
It is a safeguard of a products character and continuity as well as protection for a specific region to lay right to its gastronomic heritage.
And it is an assurance as to the quality of any given product, rigorously tested, inspected and regulated to maintain the original standards for which the AOC was first awarded.



For a full listing of all AOC wines click HERE.

For a full listing off all AOC Cheese click HERE










Sources
http://www.agriculture.gouv.fr/spip/ressources.themes.alimentationconsommation.signesdequalite.lappellationdoriginecontroleeaoc_r172.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appellation_d'Origine_Contr%C3%B4l%C3%A9e