What are the official signs of quality and origin?

There are five of them: AOP (origin in a geographical area), IGP (link with a territory), STG (traditional recipe or method), Label Rouge (superior quality) and organic farming. Each is based on a controlled specification, and official control is delegated to independent bodies approved by the INAO.

Is an organic product necessarily good for your health?

No. The organic logo guarantees a production method, not a nutritional profile. An organic product can be high in sugar, fat or salt. To judge the composition, read the nutritional table and the list of ingredients, or use the Nutri-Score.

What do "natural" or "artisanal" mean on a package?

These are free claims, without a uniform official definition, and not signs of quality. According to the Ministry of Economy, "natural" is a complementary term used for marketing purposes. Rely on the list of ingredients rather than the word.

How can you check that a product is really organic?

Look for the European logo with the control body code and the origin "EU Agriculture" or "non-EU". You can then consult the official directory of the Agence Bio, which lists organic operators and links to the certification body.

Food labels: what they are really worth

Official or in-house: the first question to ask

On a package, anything that looks like a logo doesn't have the same value. Some signs are recognised and regulated by the public authorities, with a precise specification and controls. Others are logos created by a brand, a retailer or an association, or simply mentions written by the manufacturer. Both can be sincere, but only the former are based on a public framework.

Before trusting a logo, it is therefore better to ask: who defined it, and who checks that it is respected? For processed products, this reflex complements the reading of the detailed label in our guide tohow to read a label.

Official signs of quality and origin

According to the National Consumer Institute, there are five official signs of quality and origin, guaranteed by the State and based on specifications that are "precise and transparent, controlled and protected":

AOP (Protected Designation of Origin): the production stages take place in a single geographical area, according to a recognised know-how;
IGP (Protected Geographical Indication): the product is linked to a territory for its quality or reputation, and at least one stage of production must take place there;
STG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed): it protects a recipe or traditional methods, but not a geographical origin;
Label Rouge: it designates a product of higher quality than standard products, due to its production or manufacturing conditions;
Organic farming: practices that respect the environment and biodiversity, with a high level of animal welfare.

A product can have several signs, for example a cheese with AOP status produced from organic farming.

What these signs guarantee: a controlled specification

The strength of these signs lies less in the logo than in what lies behind it. Each product meets a specification, and the INAO, the public institute responsible for these signs, states that official controls are delegated to independent bodies, which are accredited and then approved and evaluated by it. The control plan for each product must be validated by the INAO.

For organic farming, the basis is Regulation (EU) 2018/848, and the operator chooses his own control body from among those approved, whereas for the other signs, it is the defence and management bodies that designate it. In all cases, a third party checks, and not just the manufacturer.

TheEuropean organic logo(the European "leaf") follows precise rules, as recalled by the European Commission:

it is compulsory on pre-packaged foodstuffs from the European Union sold as organic;
the product must contain at least 95% organic ingredients;
the control body code number and the place of production of the agricultural raw materials ("EU Agriculture" or "Non-EU Agriculture") must appear next to the logo.

The old French AB logo has become optional, as the European logo is now mandatory for pre-packaged organic products in the Union.

What they do not guarantee

A quality mark is not a nutritional score. The Label Rouge aims for superior quality, particularly in terms of taste, but it does not say that a product is low in sugar or salt. Similarly, an AOC does not explicitly refer to the nutritional value of the product. An organic biscuit remains a biscuit: it can be high in sugar, fat or salt, and nothing in the organic logo says otherwise.

Quality marks therefore answer one question (where does this product come from, how was it made?) and the Nutri-Score answers another (what does it contain, per 100 g?). The two complement each other, as detailed in our article onNutri-Score. For organic food in particular, our articleIs organic food really better?summarises what we know.

Positive claims, including HVE

Alongside official signs, there arepositive claimsgoverned by the Rural Code, such as "mountain", "farm" or "from a high environmental value farm". Their status is different: they are not signs of identification of quality and origin.

TheHVE (high environmental value) certificationis the highest level of an environmental certification system for agricultural farms, awarded after an audit by a certification body. It falls within this category of positive claims. The HVE logo can appear on a processed product if it contains at least 95% raw materials from HVE farms. This certification was challenged by associations, including organic farming and consumer organisations, before the Conseil d'État (request of January 2023), which rejected their appeal in February 2025; these associations remain mobilised on the shortcomings of the reference document. This is a reminder that it is better to know the criteria of a label before attributing virtues to it.

Positive claims describe an origin or a method of production. According to Vidal, they do not guarantee "in any way the quality of the product, its taste or its origin" in the sense of official signs.

Fishing, aquaculture, fair trade: private labels

For fish, two labels are very common. TheMSCconcerns wild fishing, and theASC(Aquaculture Stewardship Council) concerns farmed seafood products. These are certification programmes run by non-governmental organisations, based on external audits. They are not official state signs. The MSC is also debated: a study published in 2013 in the journal *Biological Conservation* estimated that some certified fisheries did not meet the criteria for sustainable fishing.

Thefair tradehas a legal definition in France (article 60 of law no. 2005-882), but the logos seen on the shelves are carried by organisations that each have their own reference document. Read the label's specifications before comparing two logos: they do not necessarily cover the same commitments.

These private labels are not without value. They indicate a commitment verified by a third party, but the level of requirement depends on their reference document, which is defined by the organisation that carries it.

"Natural", "farm", "artisanal": words, not guarantees

Free claims are often the most misleading, because they resemble labels without being labels. According to the DGCCRF, quoted in the specialist press, there is no precise framework for the term "farm" outside of administrative doctrine. The term "natural" is classified by the Ministry of Economy as a complementary term for marketing purposes. As for "old-fashioned" or "home-made", they do not correspond to any quality criteria.

The general consumer law, of course, prohibits misleading commercial practices, but the claim itself has no uniform official definition. When faced with a flattering word, look at the list of ingredients: that is what counts. Our article onmarketing trapsdetails these packaging tricks.

How to check a label

Look for the name and number of the sign: for organic products, the code of the control body must appear next to the logo, as well as the origin of the raw materials;
Consult the Agence Bio directory: it lists organic operators and refers, according to the Agency, to the certification body and the certificate;
Consult the INAO website: it publishes the list of approved control bodies and the specifications of official signs;
Read the website of the private label(MSC, ASC, fair trade) to find out about its reference document and its control method.

How Yumiq takes this into account

The Yumiq presentation text states that the score includes a bonus for verifiable quality labels: organic, PDO, PGI, Label Rouge, MSC/ASC, and Fairtrade. The term "verifiable" is important: a purely marketing logo is not included in this list. This bonus is one component among others of the score, which remains visible on the product page.

Key takeaways

An official label is based on specifications controlled by a third-party body, whereas a proprietary logo is not.
No label replaces the need to read the ingredient list and the nutrition table.
An organic, PDO or Label Rouge product can be very high in fat, sugar or salt.
The terms "natural", "artisan" and "traditional" do not constitute a label.
If in doubt, check the label's certificate or reference framework.

Labels: what they are really worth