At the beginning of 2025 Finland had 16 products protected under the three EU quality schemes and a total of more than 20 products are in various stages of the approval procedure at the national or European Commission level. The EU quality schemes system is very poorly used in practice in the Finnish food sector and information about the quality schemes and the opportunities they offer is sorely needed.
The main goal of the Truly Special project is to increase knowledge and expertise on the use of the quality schemes system in business, producer groups, among food sector operators and consumers in Finland. This will be achieved through various communications means. Following the project the Finnish food sector and tourism operators will be more deeply connected to the peer network of European products with a geographical indication or a traditional speciality guaranteed, and understand the availability of financial resources for the process. In addition, the long-term goal of the project is to promote the creation of a network of operators for these products through information dissemination.
The primary target group of the project are producers of protected Finnish products and the business and producer groups in various stages of the application process as well as new potential applicants for new protected products. Additional target groups are regional and national tourism operators, regional project operators and consumers. The project will be implemented nationwide.
The project activities are divided into two work packages:
1. Increasing positive awareness of the EU quality schemes system and its benefits for food sector operators
2. Expanding the visibility and recognition of the EU quality schemes system to the general public
The project is coordinated by the Pyhäjärvi Institute and co-implemented by the Ruralia Institute of the University of Helsinki and Kaiku Helsinki Oy.
Project websites:
EU quality schemes for agricultural products on the Aitoja makuja -website