June 26, 2026
Translated by ChatGPT.
Plum jam gingerbread cookies, artisanal sausages and bacon, goat cheeses, sheep yogurts, fruit juices, or desserts. All of these are Regional Foods — products awarded a prestigious label highlighting the very best from smaller local growers, farmers, producers, and processors. Behind them lies a great deal of hard, honest work. Each year, only a fraction of the applicants succeed in earning the title Regional Food from the evaluation committee.
“It’s not only the taste and ingredients that are assessed, but also, for example, the connection to the region or tradition,” says Kateřina Ratajová from the State Agricultural Intervention Fund, whose team is responsible for administering and supporting national labels such as Regional Food or Klasa.
Your job title is “Director of the Department for the Administration and Support of Quality Foods.” As a non-official, may I simplify it to “the top Czech marketer for good food”? What does your work involve?
It sounds rather grand, and I’m glad someone uses the word marketer in connection with a civil servant. The main task of my team under the State Agricultural Intervention Fund is to promote high-quality local foods, especially from small and medium-sized producers, as well as organic foods. We are responsible for administering national quality labels, including Regional Food and Klasa. For example, with the Regional Food label, we organize regional competitions each year from April to July to award this certification.
We want to focus mainly on Regional Food. What kind of product can receive this award?
Our labels have precisely defined rules according to which we grant awards. A Regional Food product can be a food item from a small or medium-sized producer that consists of at least 70 percent local ingredients from the given region. However, that is only a prerequisite, because we award the label each year only to the very best product — the winner — submitted in a given region in one of nine categories.
Could you list those categories, please?
They are:
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Heat-treated meat products and durable meat products
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Cheeses
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Dairy products
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Bakery products
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Confectionery products
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Beverages (except wine)
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Fruit and vegetables, both fresh and processed
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Other products
The last one is a nice category that can include almost anything not classified elsewhere. We evaluate oils, ice creams, ready meals, spices, fish, honey, and more.
Do some categories receive more applications than others? For example, do you have more local butchers than bakers?
The most active applicants are beverage producers. Second is the category of other products, and third place belongs to meat products.
And from the perspective of regions?
The leading regions are Ústí, Olomouc, and Plzeň. On the opposite end are the Karlovy Vary region and Vysočina. This is largely determined by the geographical and agricultural possibilities of each region.
Who decides the winners, and based on what criteria?
The evaluation committee in each region includes representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Agricultural Intervention Fund, the State Agricultural and Food Inspection Authority, the State Veterinary Administration, the regional authority, and the Food or Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic. The jury assesses the submitted foods based on various aspects: taste and sensory qualities, regional origin of ingredients, innovation, connection to tradition and region, packaging, and more. The winner in each category is determined by the total number of points.
Are producers interested in participating?
I was very pleased that last year we recorded the highest participation in history. A total of 496 producers applied with nearly two thousand products, of which 114 received the award — showing the enormous competition. I am curious whether last year represented the peak of interest, or whether even higher numbers await us this year. We are eagerly anticipating the March recruitment of producers. Their feedback, which we measure annually, is very positive: 93 percent of producers perceive a positive impact from the Regional Food label, and 87 percent would apply again.
Do awarded producers benefit from their success? Do you support them with marketing activities?
Yes, both at the regional and national level. In each region, we organize at least 15 tastings. We either purchase awarded products and offer them at public events, or the awarded producers attend events with us directly. We also provide starter packages with logos for labeling products, paper bags, and promotional materials. A very prestigious presentation takes place at Prague Castle on the national holiday of October 28. Around fifty producers also participate in the National Harvest Festival. We regularly appear at the Better Czechia conference organized in Karlovy Vary by Forbes. Among our media activities, producers particularly like the TV show Kluci v akci, where hosts visit individual regions and present awarded local products. Other programs include Herbář or Sunday Baking. Last year, in cooperation with Lukáš Hejlík and the Foodblog of the Year event, we engaged food bloggers to seek out Regional Foods in their regions and cook with them. We try to reach the public through a wide variety of communication channels.
Is it difficult for an ordinary customer to access Regional Food products if they shop once a week in a hypermarket?
More than 70 percent of awarded producers are small entities with fewer than ten employees. By nature, they are not able to supply large retail chains, so they most often sell directly from their farms, at farmers’ markets, in specialized or company shops, or through their own e-shops. However, it is slowly becoming a trend that chains such as COOP or Kaufland create special corners for regional producers. I hope this tendency will continue.
Do Czechs actually eat quality local foods?
According to research by STEM/MARK, two out of three Czechs recognize the Regional Food label. Eight out of ten people trust the quality of these foods. Many customers focus on price or ingredients, but paradoxically they do not perceive the value of human labor and the complexity of production. That is why last year we launched the campaign: “Let’s not only think about how much it costs, but what stands behind it.” In this spirit, we showed how long it takes for cheese to mature, how many apples must be harvested and processed by hand to produce juice, or that the woman baking pastries gets up when we are going to bed. Simply put, we want to show that without the effort and hard work of producers, quality local food would not reach our tables.
You must have heard many interesting life stories while getting to know local farmers and producers.
There are hundreds of them. Every producer has their own story. Mothers who started making jams during maternity leave and stayed with it. Or a nurse who makes them in her free time after work. Awarded schools where students are taught honest working methods without shortcuts and according to original recipes. Social enterprises employing people with disabilities. There are countless examples, and the best thing you can do is visit farmers’ markets and meet the producers yourself.
Find your Regional Food online.
