Rooibos" on an EU Pack Now Means Real Cape Rooibos, by Law

A pack sold anywhere in the European Union may now carry the name "rooibos" only if the leaf inside it was grown in the Cape, after the EU entered the red bush in its register of protected designations of origin.

The protection ties the name to the place. Only leaf from the Aspalathus linearis plant, harvested in the Western and Northern Cape, may be sold as "rooibos" across the EU. A similar bush grown elsewhere may not take the name, however close the resemblance. Rooibos grows commercially only in this corner of the Cape, the Cederberg mountains of the Western Cape and the neighbouring Bokkeveld plateau, with smaller plantings around Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape, so the rule follows where the plant already grows.

The registration was made by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/865 of 28 May 2021 and published in the Official Journal on 31 May. It makes the red bush the first African food to earn the mark, placing rooibos alongside Champagne, Parma ham and Roquefort, names the EU reserves by law for the place that gave them their character.

The listing closes an application South Africa had pursued for years. Dr Ivan Meyer, the Western Cape's agriculture minister, welcomed it. "Its inclusion in the EU's Geographical Indication Register will signal its unique quality to consumers, not only in Europe but all over the world," Meyer said.

Sources: SAnews, "South African Rooibos makes list of EU's protected designations"; EUR-Lex, "Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/865 of 28 May 2021"; European Commission, "eAmbrosia register: Rooibos / Red Bush (PDO)".