52002XC1126(01)

Publication of an application for registration pursuant to Article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin

(2002/C 291/02)

This publication confers the right to object to the application pursuant to Article 7 of the abovementioned Regulation. Any objection to this application must be submitted via the competent authority in the Member State concerned within a time limit of six months from the date of this publication. The arguments for publication are set out below, in particular under 4.6, and are considered to justify the application within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92.

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2081/92

APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION: ARTICLE 5

PDO (x) PGI ( )

National application No: -

1. Responsible department in the Member State Name: Subdirección General de Denominaciones de Calidad y Relaciones Interprofesionales y Contractuales. Dirección General de Alimentación. Subsecretaría de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación del Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación de España

Address: Infanta Isabel, 1, E-28071 Madrid

Tel. (34) 913 47 53 94

Fax (34) 913 47 54 10.

2. Applicant group 2.1. Name: Juan Castaño Salgado

Mario Díaz Moreno

Félix Lázaro Ronco

José María Ordiales Chaparro

Andrés Pérez González

José Alvarez Rocha

Queserías Pérez Andrada SL

Quesos del Casar SL

Explotación La Jarilla - C.B. Hnos. Regalado

Nuestra Señora del Prado SCL

Francisco Roncero Molano

2.2. Address: Barriada de la Diputación s/n, E-10190 Casar de Cáceres, Cáceres

Tel./fax (34) 927 29 00 08

2.3. Composition: producer/processor (x) other ( )

3. Type of product: Class 1.3 Cheeses.

4. Specification (summary of requirements under Article 4(2)):

4.1. Name: Torta del Casar.

4.2. Description: Torta del Casar is a cheese made from raw milk of ewes belonging to the merino and entrefino breeds. The clotting agent used is vegetable rennet made from Cynara cardunculus flower heads. The cheese is ripened for 60 days at least and its characteristics are as follows:

(a) Physical characteristics:

- cylindrical shape,

- size:

(i) height: 5-7 cm; diameter: 11-13 cm; weight: 0,500-0,700 kg;

(ii) height: 5-7 cm; diameter: 14-17 cm; weight: 0,900-1,100 kg.

(b) Physical and chemical characteristics:

- fat content (in relation to the dry extract): may not be less than 50 %,

- dry extract: may not be less than 50 %,

- pH: may not be less than 5,2 or more than 5,9,

- NaCl: may not exceed 3 %.

(c) Organoleptic characteristics:

Semi-hard yellow to ochre crust; soft to spreadable white to yellowish middle. Texture closed but soft and slightly greasy, possibly with some small holes. Strong smell and ripe and slightly bitter flavour attributable to the vegetable rennet used.

4.3. Geographical area: The geographical area in which Torta del Casar and the milk from which it is made are produced, comprises 36 municipalities in the districts of Los Llanos de Cáceres, Sierra de Fuentes and Montánchez, and is situated in the province of Cáceres in the autonomous community of Extremadura.

4.4. Proof of origin: Producers of Torta del Casar and of the milk from which it is made are listed in a register of farms, milk-collection centres and cheese factories in accordance with the handbooks on quality and procedures.

The final quality check prior to marketing consists of tests aimed at ensuring that only cheeses which are fully in conformity with the rules laid down bear the numbered labels supplied to the registered cheese factories by the regulatory council. The methods of sampling and analysis are described in the handbooks on quality and procedures.

4.5. Method of production: The merino and entrefino milk ewes currently number about 20000 and produce an estimated 1,5 million litres of milk per year. Characteristics of the rearing system:

- based in whole or in part on grazing,

- any supplements fed to the sheep are subject to regulatory council controls.

How Torta del Casar is produced:

- vegetable rennet is added for 50 to 80 minutes with the milk at a temperature of 28 to 32 °C,

- clotting is interrupted in order to produce fine, rice-like grains,

- the curds are placed in cylindrical moulds corresponding to the size of the finished product,

- the curds are put in a cheese press and subjected to a pressure of 1 to 2,5 kg/cm2 for three to eight hours,

- wet- or dry-salting, using sodium chloride only,

- the cheese is ripened for 60 days, with the temperature at 4 to 12 °C and the relative humidity at 75 % to 90 %.

4.6. Link 4.6.1. Historical

Transhumance and grazing have since time immemorial been a feature of the districts situated in the geographical area of production. After undergoing a number of changes over the years, the drovers' routes were in 1273 officially recognised as obligatory passageways for flocks under the rules governing the "Honrado Concejo de la Mesta".

There is evidence of the presence of established flocks in 1291, when King Sancho IV allowed the use of land around the town of Casar as grazing land for flocks.

Already then, Torta del Casar was used as a means of payment, but it is not until 1791 that we find the first written reference to ewe's milk cheese from Casar de Cáceres.

4.6.2. Natural

The area of production is situated to the north of the Sierra de San Pedro. It is bounded by the border with the province of Badajoz and, to the east and north, by the Almonte and Tagus rivers respectively. The steppe-like plain of the geographical area of production is broken by the Sierra de Fuentes running north-west to south-east and consists of sandy, fairly thin and not very fertile soils with numerous rocky outcrops.

It has a continental climate with long hot summers, mild and short winters, and the annual rainfall ranges between 300 and 500 ml. The flora essentially consists of highly nutritive but slow-growing grasses, plus some shrub and tree vegetation of the quercus type.

4.7. Inspection body Name: Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen (DOP) Torta del Casar

Address: Avenida de la Constitución, 13, E-10190 Casar de Cáceres

Tel. (34) 927 29 07 13

Fax (34) 927 29 16 54

E-mail: tortadelcasar@airtel.net

The regulatory council complies with standard UNE-EN 45011.

4.8. Labelling: The name and logo of the Torta del Casar PDO and all the other particulars specified in the rules applicable must be clearly shown on the labels and/or other means of identification of the products concerned.

4.9. National requirements - Law No 25/1970 of 2 December 1970 on the rules governing viticulture, wine and spirits, plus the Regulation concerned, adopted by Decree No 835/1972 of 23 March 1972,

- Order of 25 January 1994 specifying the correspondence between Spanish law and Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs,

- Royal Decree No 1643/1999 of 22 October 1999 laying down the procedure for processing applications for inclusion in the Community Register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications.

EC No: ES/00213/2001.10.26.

Date of receipt of the full application: 26 October 2001.