Portuguese food names protected by the EU: PDO and PGI explained

The short answer

Portugal has 152 registered food names in the EU's register of geographical indications, eAmbrosia: 69 Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and 83 Protected Geographical Indications (PGI), in XTOUR's count of the register on 9 October 2026. Nine more food applications were pending.[1] Wines and spirits are registered separately on the same register and are left to Port and Madeira wine names explained.

The names a visitor is most likely to meet on a menu or a market stall fall into a clear pattern. The cheeses are nearly all PDOs, the pastries and sweets are all PGIs, and many of the cured meats are PGIs whose names carry a town or area.

What the two labels mean

The European Commission draws the line by how much of the work must happen in the named place. For a PDO, every part of production, processing and preparation takes place in the specific region; the Commission calls these the names with the strongest links to where they are made. For a PGI, at least one stage of production, processing or preparation takes place in the region for most products, and the name rests on a quality, reputation or other characteristic essentially attributable to that origin. For food, the Commission says the label is mandatory on both.[7]

The Commission also runs a third scheme that is easy to confuse with these, the traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), which protects a recipe or method without tying it to any area.[7] XTOUR has not checked the TSG register for Portugal.

Which Portuguese foods carry which label

XTOUR's count by the first word of each registered Portuguese food name gives this picture.[1]

Cheese. Eleven of the twelve cheese names are PDOs, among them Queijo Serra da Estrela, Queijo de Évora, Queijo S. Jorge and Queijo do Pico; the twelfth, Queijo mestiço de Tolosa, is a PGI.[1] Queijo Serra da Estrela and Queijo de Évora were both protected on 21 June 1996, and the register classes both under cheese and curd.[3] The Serra da Estrela record lists Official Journal publications from 1996 to April 2025; XTOUR could not open them.[2]

Pastries and sweets. Every pastry name is a PGI.[1] Ovos Moles de Aveiro was protected on 30 January 2006 and Pastel de Tentúgal on 12 January 2012, and the register files both under bread, pastry, cakes and other bakers' wares.[5][4] Others include Pastel de Chaves, Pão de Ló de Ovar, Folar de Valpaços, Fogaça da Feira and Pastel de feijão de Torres Vedras.[1]

Cured meats. Most of the cured-meat names are PGIs that carry a place: a run of sausage and ham names from Portalegre, from Estremoz e Borba, from Vinhais, from Barroso-Montalegre and from Melgaço. Two hams are PDOs, Presunto de Barrancos and Presunto do Alentejo. Fresh meat splits: twelve of the fourteen names that begin with Carne, such as Carne Mirandesa and Carne Barrosã, are PDOs, while five of the six kid (Cabrito) names are PGIs.[1]

Fruit, oil, honey and salt. The olive oils and honeys are all PDOs, from Azeite de Moura to Mel dos Açores. Fruit splits both ways: Pêra Rocha do Oeste is a PDO, protected since 27 April 2002, while Maçã de Alcobaça is a PGI.[6] The salt names are PDOs, Sal de Tavira and Sal de Rio Maior, each also protected as Flor de Sal.[1]

The islands' names

Madeira and the Azores have their own entries. For Madeira the register lists Anona da Madeira, Cebola da Madeira and Batata-Doce da Madeira as PDOs and Requeijão da Madeira and Sidra da Madeira as PGIs. Among names that include the Azores, it lists Ananás dos Açores, Maracujá dos Açores, Mel dos Açores and Manteiga dos Açores as PDOs, and Carne dos Açores and Meloa de Santa Maria - Açores as PGIs; Banana dos Açores was still an application. An application for Mel-de-Cana da Madeira is flagged in the register as removed.[1]

A name is not an address

Several names carry a place a traveller will recognise, such as Queijo de Évora, Maçã de Alcobaça and Ginja de Óbidos e Alcobaça.[3][1] The name says what the product is called; the product's geographical area is defined in its specification, which XTOUR could not open on 9 October 2026. XTOUR therefore does not say that Queijo de Évora is made only in or around Évora, or that the ginja is made in Óbidos, or where a shop selling it is.

The Mediterranean diet is something else

UNESCO inscribed the Mediterranean diet on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013 as one element shared by seven states, Portugal among them. It describes a set of skills, knowledge and traditions running from crops and fishing to cooking and, above all, the sharing of food, and names markets as key places where it is passed on.[8] It is a practice, not a protected product name, and it is not specific to Portugal.

What XTOUR does not know

XTOUR names no producer, shop, restaurant or market stall, and makes no taste, price or health claim. It has not read the product specifications, so it does not state any product's geographical area, production method or permitted ingredients. For the country as a whole, see Portugal.