"In my mind, it is not necessarily the case that preparing foods in a traditional fashion will result in a superior product (or even one that most approximates the characteristics of a similar product produced a century before"

No, but that was never the intent - or the label would reflect that; the fact that the USA produces knock-off products is an excellent example of why the labelling exists with the intent to protect the name. "Swiss Cheese" springs to mind -- what's Swiss Cheese? It's certainly not swiss. Or what about "parmesan cheese"? Same deal. Or Champagne. Or polish sausages.

Fact is we cherish our culture and heritage, even though it has changed slightly over time.

Good point. I am still a bit irked by the phrases "Designation of Quality" or "Guarantees of Excellence" when it really means "Traditionally Made" or "Made in the Parma". Granted the likelihood that a traditionally made product is better than a knockoff is high, making something traditionally does not guarantee quality or excellence. Nor does it mean a product made elsewhere is not as good. If cheddar cheese were to apply for a designation, then would it mean that the excellent cheddars made outside of Cheddar in Somerset would automatically be lower quality? I agree with the necessity of labeling items as Authentic, but not when it uses words like Quality and Excellence (subjective terms whereas authenticity is more or less objective).

I'm an American engineer and secondary math/science/computing teacher living in Germany (teaching Americans). My whole take on this, as on so many things EU, is that there's a pronounced element of snobbery involved, more than any real, empirical enhancement. Ultimately, the EU are protecting their tax-base. Such labelling demands higher prices from consumers here and everywhere, while things lacking the labelling, but nonetheless produced in Europe already have a certain mystique.

The EU is systematically harming all the member nations and their citizens. If the young United States had conducted themselves this way, America would have many small "countries" and at most a loose treaty federation today. The taxes and environmental rules here are so cumbersome as to discourage lots of otherwise entreprenurial folks from EVEN WORKING--REALLY! The only groups that are becoming weathlier are non-european emigrants who receive pay and welfare compensations in excess of their uses. In 10-20 years I predict that this new class will be The Ruling class (strictly by virtue of money and the influence it brings). Would anyone care to guess what religion at least 90% of these emigrants have in common--if you guessed Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Mormon, Buddhist, Shinto or Scientologist--you're wrong. Here's a hint, they mostly come here from our southeast...

Whoa! How about a bit of political judgment with your food?

I mostly know about Italian products, since that's where I live and cook. Italians are very picky indeed about their food, and snobbery really doesn't come into it here. Parmigiano Reggiano is one great example. The milk comes from cows that have eaten exclusively the natural growth of that area. It tastes different from similar cheeses made elsewhere. It is checked and rechecked consistently for quality until it is sold at whatever age you are buying, there being a minimum but no maximum-- although paying for something more than 5 years would be burdensome. Parmigiano Reggiano is a grana and there are others. Italians know what to expect from the others, depending on where it is made. Grana Padana, for example. There is even a superb grana bufala, made from buffalo milk. Can you use a different grana in a recipe calling for parmesan? Of course you can! Can you buy a bad grana? I suppose so, but all I have used have been at least tasty, versus most of the fake parmesan made elsewhere using milk from tanker trucks of no specific origin in other countries.
When I buy prosciutto, I say which one I want. They ARE different. The pigs eat different things, the curing varies, the age varies.
When I buy olive oil I pick the one right for what I am cooking.
It is not snobbery. Food is expensive here and people have reason for wanting to know exactly what they are buying. All tastes are accounted for. We have lots of choices and we have attitude. If the EU tries to mess with important things, there's an uprising. They tried to pass a law requiring pasteurizing of all cheese milks and they could not, because no one wants to live in that world.
Would you like to pay Barolo prices for a fake made in Chianti? Me either. I am pleased that Europe is keeping food supply from going down the generic road. That's available, too, but we can still rely on the origin labels and it is a good thing.

I wonder how widespread these actually are...

I feel I've leaned something useful about food labelling and things to look for, here, but having grown up in the EU area all my life (if the UK counts, which ostensibly it does, and I've made enough trips over the channel/bought enough foreign produce) - I don't think I've ever seen a single one of these four on any item I've ever bought. Even on domestic organic items.

Probably open my fridge now and suddenly notice two or three instances of one of these and go "d'oh!", but they are pretty distinct and eye catching, you'd think they'd stand out & have caught my eye alongside the usual 'recyclable', 'recycled packaging', 'no animal tests', 'uk farmers association' (red tractor), etc logos, & all the sundry ones that producers and retailers themselves add to e.g. indicate the strength of a cheese...

I'm also a north-american engineer type, and I've been living in France for about four years. I've also never seen any of these labels - I think this is because there is an equivalent expression and label in each member country. These labels must be used for export purposes.

Anyway, as much as I appreciate experiencing local foods, I was also initially dumbfounded by the pan-European belief in an equivalence between regional production and quality. You could call it snobbery if you like. But what first strikes us as bizarre is really just the weight of history and the total integration of food into culture. Until quite recently, people ate things that came from their local region, and prepared them in ways that had been adapted over very long periods of time to the local climate, vegetation, etc. The relationship with food was more like the relationship with family or language or one's own origins. Food is not necessarily perceived as an interchangeable consumer good with objectively quantifiable 'quality', even if rationalized large-scale production has in large part made it so. Many people in Europe are stuck between two irreconcilable worlds: a symbolic one which idealizes traditional, local culture, and a globalized, industrialized economic reality that is beyond everyday comprehension.

So I can understand that there are a lot of people who care a lot about what they eat, who judge the fitness of a product by its region of production and the use of traditional methods. But I also see quite well that this mentality is being exploited by marketing strategies. The production and distribution of foods here seems to mostly be a massive, impersonal industry. What counts for those who are selling these products is the 'aura' of authenticity. I can easily go to the supermarket and buy a mediocre or even bad cheese that qualifies for a 'quality' label, but I can also go to a market and buy really good cheese made by some local farmer who does not qualify for the label. When I go to the open-air market and buy vegetables in a traditional setting, people will surely tell me that they are of higher quality or better and so on, though often if I look behind the stands I can see from the cardboard shipping cartons that they are the same vegetables I could buy in the supermarket.

I recently shared some good Oregon wine with some friends here, who never denied that it was good stuff... the consensus was in fact that it was 'too good', probably the result of having rationally studied the production process and 'perfected' it. In general, people aren't after the most perfect taste etc. but something they can identify and place in the classification system they grew up with. Whether they are conscious of this is another question.

Noone in Europe uses these labels, but that doesn't mean the naming of "protected" products isn't enforced.
Try selling Parma hams that aren't produced in the Parma region and you're in for a serious legal battle, product confiscation, and fines.

I doubt most food producers and packagers even know the labels exist that they're entitled to use (no doubt after paying a hefty "license fee"), or else they're only used for the export market as inside the EU "counterfeit" (bearing the name without meeting the requirements) items are banned anyway.

And thus we get the real reasons for these labels and regulations: marketing and market protection.
At the same time they protect EU manufacturers from cheaper competing products from elsewhere as well as providing a medium through which to represent those products to export markets as being "exclusive" and of superior quality.

Meanwhile the EU consumer suffers through lack of choice at the store and higher prices.