Food microbial biodiversity and “microbes of protected origin”

Over the past decades, traditional food systems have evolved from poorly coordinated networks to globalized complexes of regulated trade, and the geographical indications (GIs) agro-food market size is approximately $50 billion. Belonging to the intellectual property law as collective property rights, the “GI is a sign used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, reputation, or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin” (World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 2011). The global impact of “GI” is widely testified through the scientific, social, and economic importance of traditional foods (World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 2011; World Trade Organization (WTO), 2011). In fact, GIs are known to be the earliest type of trademarks. From an edible perspective, this concept is simply and well presented by Bisson et  al. (2002): “consumers expect wine from a particular region to possess unique qualities that differentiate it from other wines of the same varietal from other regions.” The GI system is based upon the concept of “terroir,” a French word used to describe all geographical aspects of the environment, including the climate, geology, cultivar, human, technical, and cultural practices (and the interactions of these factors) that can influence local production.