SpicyIP has always had a natural tendency to report on the ‘spicier’ issues of IP law. So just imagine our excitement when we found out about Geographical Indication protection for spices. We however promise to refrain from over-using the ‘spicy’ puns that come to our minds.
The latest is Assam’s ‘Karbi Anglong ginger’ which is well on track to receive GI protection. The district administration recently filed an application claiming GI protection for GIs. The Karbi Anglong ginger is supposed to be one of the finest of its kind with markets as far away as Germany. It is grown in the Karbi Anglong district and derives its special characteristics because of the unique climate and soil of the area. Hopefully GI protection will protect its brand value. More importantly for export markets is the fact that since the district has been backward it hasn’t really used too many fertilizers meaning that the farmers use more traditional methods. The implication of this is the fact that all the farming is necessarily organic farming. As all of you must know organic food is the latest craze especially in the West. For more details on this variety of GIs please click here for the website of the district administration of Karbi Anglong.
Please click here for our previous posts on GIs.
The Hindu in a very well researched article also reports that:
Applications for Alleppey and Coorg Green Cardamom, Sannam chillies and Alleppey Turmeric are in the final stages of GI Registration. Of course, this is only the first step for the Spices Board which will have now have to get market advantage for farmers from these GIs and also register for GIs in Europe as well. There are quite a few other candidates for GIs, such as the Bhut Jolokia chilli cultivated in the Nagaland, the hottest chilli in the world.
Also we now have domestic GIs (geographical indications) granted for Malabar pepper and Tellicherry pepper.
As a part of our new value added services we also point you to a link for ‘spicy’ ginger recipes.
