By JANET FLETCHER

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM SAYS THAT THE EUROPEAN UNION'S PROTECTED DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN (PDO) SYSTEM HAS DONE A LOT TO PROTECT THE INTEGRITY AND QUALITY OF EUROPE'S CHEESES SINCE IT WAS INAUGURATED IN 1992. Products that are "produced, processed and prepared within a particular geographical area, and with features and characteristics that must be due to the geographical area" are open to applying for PDO status.

But, according to several cheese exporters, importers, brokers and marketers, the PDO system can be a mixed bag, for consumers and producers alike.

The History
Before the EU implemented PDOs, several countries had their own classification programs for cheese, such as France's AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée) and the Italian and Spanish DO (denominazione di origine in Italy; denominacion de origen in Spain). Parmigiano-Reggiano received its DO in 1955; Roquefort won its AOC 30 years earlier. The European Union gathered all these programs under one roof with the PDO, a status recognized throughout Europe.

The certification process still starts with the individual nations. Cheesemakers in France, for example, apply to the French government for name-protected status, and if the application is approved, it proceeds to the EU. After its review, the EU publishes the application and, if nobody objects, grants the PDO.

Some confusion persists because France continues to use the term AOC, even though the AOC cheeses may also have the PDO. So practically speaking, the two labels are identical, or overlapping, as they are in Italy and Spain, where appellations existed before the PDO was established.

By specifying where and how a cheese is made, a PDO aims to protect producers and consumers from fraud and guarantees a minimum level of quality. Producers jointly define the legal production zone and the methods used for the cheese's manufacture. But in practice, PDOs vary widely in how lax or strict they are.

The Challenges
Amel Chevrollier, marketing manager for Interval, an exporter of French cheeses, points out some of the designation's inconsistencies: Some PDOs, such as Brie de Meaux, require raw milk while others, such as Fourme d'Ambert, do not. Some allow silage in the animal feed; others expressly forbid it. Some limit the size of the producers eligible for the PDO; others do not. "So, in the end," wrote Chevrollier in an email in slightly rough but effective English, "the PDO logo is not always a guarantee of quality enough."

If the PDO rules are too flexible, they may compromise a cheese's quality, consistency or sense of place. Pecorino Toscano, for example, can also be made in parts of Umbria and Lazio, not just in Tuscany. Pecorino Romano is often made in Sardinia, although it was originally a cheese from the Roman countryside. Toma Piemontese, from Northern Italy, has a particularly loose disciplinare, or rulebook, says Maurizio Giovine, an Italian cheese broker, possibly intended to make more producers eligible. PDO cheeses are often important economically to their region, so if there aren't many cheesemakers or the quantity produced is low, some producers applying for PDO status may expand the zone or relax the definition to admit more cheesemakers.

Conversely, if the rules are too onerous, some producers may opt out or may not qualify, despite making good cheese.

"I don't believe that always the cheese in the PDO is the best," says Michele Buster of Forever Cheese, a New York importer and distributor. "I've tasted exceptional quality Ibores that is outside the PDO because (the cheesemaker) didn't follow all the different requisites."

A good cheesemaker could be disqualified from a PDO, says Buster, because some of his sheep aren't the authorized breeds. "Sometimes it's more politics than poetry," agrees Giovine. Initially, producers viewed PDOs as a way to maintain quality and eliminate fakes. Now, says the broker, "We are in a different phase in which some PDO producers think of it like a medal, like a marketing tool, more than quality assurance."

The Benefits
"The positive far outweighs the negative," says Taylor Griffin, president of Rogers International, a cheese importer and distributor in Portland, Maine. Many buyers who deal with European cheeses find the label helpful: A PDO often allows small producers to benefit from the marketing heft of the whole, and the PDO designation gives American wholesalers and retailers some confidence in describing what they sell.

"Before they created the Manchego PDO, everything was Manchego," says Buster, so the differentiation serves producers and consumers. But there's a drawback, adds Griffin. The PDO guarantees a certain standard, "yet it may make a consumer feel like it doesn't matter what brand of Manchego they buy, since it's all regulated." His company's Manchego supplier is a farmstead, raw-milk producer. "The difference between the flavor of their Manchego and industrial Manchego is huge," says Griffin.

Even so, the PDO system has many defenders. "It helps you to know your food is safe because every PDO has to have a traceability system attached to it," says Nancy Radke, director of the U.S. information office for Parmigiano-Reggiano. Dairies making PDO cheeses are closely monitored. And for some cheeses, such as France's Laguiole, the PDO label has helped to preserve endangered products and to keep farmers on the land. "It is the best way to guarantee to consumers that the product is the result of ancestral traditions and methods," writes Chevrollier.

The Future
Despite the controversies, new PDOs will surely debut in years to come. And existing PDOs will adapt to changing circumstances. Manchego, for example, has been so successful in the years since its PDO was granted that the producers may have to alter the rule mandating the use of milk from the Manchega breed. There simply aren't enough Manchega sheep to meet demand.

But the PDO label is not the only path to success. "Certain cheesemakers I work with have chosen to decline the designation because they feel they are more distinctive without it," says Buster. Similarly, Griffin imports a sheep's milk cheese from Tuscany whose producer is "qualified to be a Pecorino Toscano producer, but he doesn't want to be. He far exceeds the standards and feels like his cheese is completely different."

Janet Fletcher is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle and author of The Cheese Course.