Collective quality construction on a territory : the case of the Protected Denomination of Origin beef “Maine-Anjou”

Abstract

The Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) is still an unusual sign of quality in beef. The efforts provided by a group of the Maine-Anjou area breeders to obtain it constitute an innovating step. In order to stop a worrying decline of this local breed which is profitableto the main national cattle breeds in the Pays de la Loire area, these producers succeeded in getting a greater valorisation of the originalcharacteristics of their meat and the link with its “terroir” using a PDO: they succeeded on a long-term basis in interesting a network ofhypermarkets, which was looking for a better product segmentation of its butchery sections. Their partnership with a multiple retailerand an industrial processing firm should help them surpass the local agricultural professional organisations’ reluctance.