Traditional Moldovan Products in the Context of European Quality Schemes. Achievements and Perspectives

Liberalization of the national market and the agreements with the European Union, the supply of agri-food products is practically unlimited for the local consumers. The use of European quality schemes can provide Moldovan producers with the right tools to promote and market traditional products. The main objective of this study is to identify the progress of national regulation on food quality schemes and to assess the degree of concentration on the traditional food market, in order to identify possible monopolistic trends. Another aim of the research is to evaluate the progress made by domestic producers in adopting European quality schemes. Research showed that local producers are less interested in using quality schemes for PGI, PDO, TSG, which could allow local products to penetrate national and international markets. Although facilities have been set up in Moldova to implement these schemes, the number of registered products is still very low. The biggest difficulties in implementing quality schemes are encountered in the sector of animal products, and meat sector. The study is part of the complex analysis, carried out within the doctoral research program. The results of the study may be useful to researchers, companies and public institutions in developing national agri-food strategies to promote local products in foreign markets.