List of French Cheeses - Protected Designation of Origin

Protected Designation of Origin

Under the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, certain established cheeses, including many French cheeses, are covered by a Protected Designation of Origin and other, less stringent designations of geographical origin for traditional specialities (for details see the French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system, the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) system used in Italy, and the Denominación de origen system used in Spain).

A complete list of agricultural products with an EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), or Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG), listed alphabetically by nation, is at the Europa Agriculture site.

French cheese production is classified under four categories, and PDO/AOC rules dictate which category(ies) each protected cheese may be assigned to:

• Fermier: A farmhouse cheese, which is produced on the farm where the milk is produced.
• Artisanal: A producer producing cheese in relatively small quantities using milk from their own farm, but may also purchase milk from local farms.
• Coopérative: A dairy with local milk producers in an area that have joined to produce cheese. In larger coopératives quantities of cheese produced may be relatively large, akin to some industriel producers (many may be classed as factory-made).
• Industriel: A factory-made cheese from milk sourced locally or regionally, perhaps all over France (depending on the AOC/PDO regulations for specific cheeses).

56 cheeses are classified, protected, and regulated under French law. The majority are classified as Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), the highest level of protection. Some are also protected under the less stringent but still legally regulated designation Label Régional (LR). A few French cheeses are protected under the European Union's Protected Geographic Indication designation (PGI). Many familiar generic types, like Boursin, are not covered. It may come as a surprise to see varieties of Emmental cheese protected as a French cheese. This list differs from those of AOC status.