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Independent · Consumer-first · Scottish

Scottish protected food names

15 Scottish food and drink names are protected in law. You cannot call beef “Scotch Beef” or a smoked haddock an “Arbroath Smokie” unless it meets a registered specification. Every entry below is read from the UK government register rather than repeated from anywhere else.

How to read the labels

The register records each name as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) or, for spirits, a Geographical Indication (GI). Scotland’s island products — Orkney Beef, Orkney Lamb, Shetland Lamb, Bonchester Cheese — are registered PDO, while the national names like Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb are PGI. For the legal definition of each protection type, see the government’s own scheme guidance; we do not paraphrase it here.

Fish and seafood

PGI

Arbroath Smokies

1.7 Fresh fish, molluscs, and crustaceans and products derived therefrom

PGI

Scottish Salmon

1.7 Fresh fish, molluscs, and crustaceans and products derived therefrom

PGI

Scottish Wild Salmon

1.7 Fresh fish, molluscs, and crustaceans and products derived therefrom

Meat

PDO

Orkney Beef

1.1 Fresh meat (and offal)

PDO

Orkney Lamb

1.1 Fresh meat (and offal)

PGI

Scotch Beef

1.1 Fresh meat (and offal)

PGI

Scotch Lamb

1.1 Fresh meat (and offal)

PDO

Shetland Lamb

1.1 Fresh meat (and offal)

PGI

Stornoway Black Pudding

1.2 Meat products (cooked, salted, smoked, etc.)

Cheese

PDO

Bonchester Cheese

1.3 Cheeses

PGI

Orkney Scottish Island Cheddar

1.3 Cheeses

PGI

Teviotdale Cheese

1.3 Cheeses

PGI

Traditional Ayrshire Dunlop

1.3 Cheeses

Fruit and vegetables

PGI

Ayrshire New Potatoes / Ayrshire Earlies

1.6 Fruit, vegetables and cereals fresh or processed

Drink

GI

Scotch Whisky

2. Whisky or Whiskey

Applied for, and refused

The register also records applications that failed, and one of them is a name most people assume is protected.

  • Dundee Cake — applied to the UK scheme, status rejected. The gov.uk page still carries the heading “Protected food name”, which is page furniture; the Status field is the one that decides.

Source: UK protected food and drink names register, read 7 September 2026. Each entry below links to its own register page.