A food’s place of origin can operate simultaneously as a quality cue, a collective brand, an intellectual-property mechanism, a traceability claim and a territorial-development resource. Origin-linked foods include geographical indications (GI), protected designations of origin (PDO), protected geographical indications (PGI), appellations, terroir products, regional specialties, ethnic and heritage foods, and other foods whose identity, reputation or quality depends on a credible relationship with place.
Their policy and market relevance is substantial across European GI/PDO/PGI systems, China’s expanding geographical-indication sector, Mexico’s Tequila Appellation of Origin and the United States’ AVA framework. Yet market scale does not resolve central research problems. Consumers may misunderstand origin labels; digital narratives may scale faster than verification; counterfeiting can erode trust; certification can create coordination costs; and price premiums may be captured unevenly along the chain.
This special issue examines one central mechanism: how origin claims become credible, monetisable and sustainable. It is organised around three priority axes: (1) authenticity, trust and consumer valuation; (2) traceability, certification and market governance; and (3) sustainable value creation and territorial inclusion. This structure connects consumer responses with the institutions and technologies that verify provenance, and then with the distribution of benefits and risks among producers, processors, retailers, platforms and places.
We welcome rigorous empirical, conceptual and review articles using consumer experiments, surveys, qualitative and mixed methods, value-chain analysis, institutional and policy analysis, systematic reviews and cross-regional comparisons. Tourism, festivals, digital platforms, cross-border scaling and wild or foraged foods are welcome as secondary contexts when they illuminate one or more of the three priority axes. Contributions from Latin America, Africa and other underrepresented regions are especially encouraged.
List of topic areas
Priority Axis 1 — Authenticity, trust and consumer valuation
- consumer understanding of GI, PDO, PGI, appellation and regional-origin labels;
- origin cues, brand authenticity, willingness to pay and food-system trust;
- interactions among origin, price, quality, safety, sustainability and health claims; and
- storytelling, cultural meaning and the limits of authenticity claims.
Priority Axis 2 — Traceability, certification and market governance
- GI/PDO/PGI and other certification systems as collective brands and governance institutions;
- traceability, provenance verification, food fraud, counterfeiting and reputation risk;
- digital certificates, QR codes, blockchain and other verification technologies; and
- producer coordination, supply-chain governance, market access and regulatory comparison.
Priority Axis 3 — Sustainable value creation and territorial inclusion
- how price premiums and brand value are distributed among smallholders, cooperatives, SMEs, intermediaries, retailers and platforms;
- rural livelihoods, cultural knowledge, biodiversity and environmental sustainability;
- scaling and standardisation without loss of ecological or cultural distinctiveness; and
- comparative evidence from Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America, Africa and other regions.
Cross-cutting contexts may include digital platforms, tourism and food festivals, cross-border markets, and wild or foraged foods, provided the paper is clearly anchored in one or more priority axes.
Submissions information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bfj
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emerald.com/bfj
Authors should select the special issue title from the drop-down menu at the appropriate step in the submission process.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published and must not be under consideration elsewhere while under review by the journal.
Guest editors
Professor Hiram Ting
(Lead Contact) Strategic Research Institute, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, Malaysia Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
hiramparousia@gmail.com
Dr Ziyi Gao
Greenwich School (International Business School), Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, China
gaozy@ynufe.edu.cn
Dr Zhengxin Li
Teaching Center for Writing and Communication, School of Humanities, Tsinghua University, China
lizhengxin@tsinghua.edu.cn
Dr Jungyun Hur
Department of Public Health, California State University, Sacramento, USA
hur@csus.edu
Dr Rawan Nimri
Department of Tourism and Marketing, Griffith University, Australia
r.nimri@griffith.edu.au
Dr Alicia Orea-Giner
Department of Business Economics, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom
alicia.orea@urjc.es
Key deadlines
Opening date for manuscript submissions: 1 October 2026
Closing date for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2027
For more details refer here
