> But this is something that's really difficult to regulate. A good example is that wine brewed from natural yeasts that smells like horseshit. It was branded as "barnyard".
"Selling crap as premium" is hard to regulate. Yes, you can put laws in place to say what is allowed to be called truffles etc., but it will be hard to stop people from selling what is technically a truffle as a premium truffle. I.e., selling crap as premium.
The issue here isn't whether a wine company can creatively brand smelly wine as "barnyard". Before we even deal with the question of how do we grade products, we first have to ask whether companies should be able to simply lie to customers about whether listed ingredients are even present.
That is definitely true, I got a bit side tracked there to be honest. However, those laws already exist in the EU, so the article could probably be summarized as "truffles should be protected".
There's also the funny angle that some real "premium" stuff is actually awful crap, or at least an utterly crappy experience.
Years ago, I bought some very pungent blue cheese, must have been either from SW France or NE Spain. Definitely not a household name, and priced quite high. One of the worst eating experiences I can remember. The flavour was so strong a small crumb was enough to burn your tastebuds. Almost painful to eat, and we had to toss the thing out.
It smelled really good, though. I learned my lesson. These days I refuse to buy any unfamiliar cheese I can't sample in the shop first.
How does that make things hard to regulate?