Publication of an application pursuant to Article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs

2009/C 188/13

This publication confers the right to object to the application pursuant to Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006. Statements must reach the Commission within six months of the date of this publication.

SUMMARY

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

‘PROSCIUTTO DI SAURIS’

EC No: IT-PGI-0005-0512-07.12.2005

PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

This summary sets out the main elements of the product specification for information purposes.

1.   Responsible department in the Member State:

2.   Group:

3.   Type of product:

4.   Specification:

(summary of requirements under Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006)

4.1.   Name:

‘Prosciutto di Sauris’

4.2.   Description:

Prosciutto di Sauris PGI is a smoked and salted raw ham that has been aged for a minimum of 10 months. After aging, it is presented whole, bone-in and without the hoof. The skin is of an even golden walnut colour tinged with orange. The visible lean meat is dark red in colour. The texture is firm but springy, including where the meat is cut vertically. A whole, bone-in Prosciutto di Sauris PGI ham weighs 7,5 kg or more and, when cut, reveals a red or pink colour, that of the lean meat. The fat has a brilliant white or pinkish-white colour. The scent is delicate and the flavour sweet, with a pleasant tinge of smokiness. When released for consumption the ham has the following physical and chemical characteristics: moisture less than 64 %; salt (chlorides)/moisture: more than 7,2 but less than 11,2, based on the percentage composition; protein: more than 24 % but less than 30 %. These characteristics were laid down on the basis of objective parameters measured in 2001-2005 by Sincert-approved laboratories, with checks being carried out quarterly (a total of 120 tests). The following methods were used for the tests:

4.3.   Geographical area:

Consists of the municipality of Sauris in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region.

4.4.   Proof of origin:

The production process must be monitored throughout, recording both inputs (products entering the establishment) and outputs (products leaving the premises). Together with the registers of farmers, slaughterers, cutters, processors, packers and slicers kept by the inspection body, and the prompt declaration, to the latter, of the quantities produced, this allows full traceability of the product throughout the production chain. All natural or legal persons whose names appear on the registers are subject to checks by the inspection body in accordance with the specification and the relevant control plan.

4.5.   Method of production:

The raw material used in the production of the PGI must come from: traditional Large White Italiana and Landrace Italiana breeds, as improved in accordance with the Italian Breed Book, or male offspring of boars of those breeds; male offspring of boars of the Duroc Italian breed, as improved in accordance with the Italian Breed Book; male offspring of boars of other breeds or hybrid boars, provided they are the result of selection plans or crosses whose aims are not incompatible with those of the Italian Breed Book for heavy pigs. Slaughter takes place from the ninth month but no later than the 15th month following birth. The carcases of the slaughtered animals must be classed as heavy in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 3220/84 and Commission Decision 2001/468/EC of 8 June 2001 and, by and large, be ranked within the central classes under the official system for evaluating meatiness.

Each leg must weigh more than 11 kg and must be subjected to the production process within one day of delivery. Salting takes place in three stages and must end within 21 days of the process commencing. Smoking is carried out in special premises, with the smoke — produced by beechwood-fired external stoves — channelled to enter through the floor. The smoking process as a whole lasts 72 hours. The temperature inside the smoking chamber ranges from 15 to 20 °C and the relative humidity is between 50 and 90 %. After drying, the hams are placed in aging chambers fitted with windows in order to ensure both that they are ventilated naturally and that the air is renewed. Aging takes place at a temperature of 16 to 22 °C and with a relative level of humidity of 50 to 90 %. While the aging is in progress a paste consisting of 60-80 % pig fat, up to 25 % cereal meal, 1 % salt and 1-30 % pepper is spread over the cracks in the hams. After this process, known as stuccatura, the hams are aged for a minimum of 10 months, calculated by adding 10 equal periods of 30 days to the day on which salting began.

A whole bone-in Prosciutto di Sauris PGI must weigh 7,5 kg or more. It may be marketed whole, bone-in, boneless or boneless cut and sliced and pre-packed. If it is marketed boneless or cut, it must be vacuum-packed. If it is marketed sliced and pre-packed it must be vacuum-packed or in a modified-atmosphere packaging. The boning, cutting, slicing and packing of Prosciutto di Sauris PGI must take place on premises located within the area defined at 4.3 in order to guarantee the consumer a product which conforms to the special characteristics of Prosciutto di Sauris, in particular with regard to the flavour and typical smoky smell of the latter.

4.6.   Link:

The distinctive characteristics of Prosciutto di Sauris are closely linked to the area of production, in particular the microclimate in the Sauris Valley, and the traditional way in which pork is smoked. The Valley runs from east to west, is shaped like a bowl and enjoys lower levels of rainfall than do the remaining Carnic and Julian Alps. Its location — more than 1 000 metres above sea level — and the air currents originating in the valley bottom and the surrounding mountains result in constant and seldom fierce winds which, thanks in particular to the presence of a reservoir, take the form of gentle breezes which blow uphill during the day and downhill at night and help to dehydrate the sausages as part of the curing process. In the course of the latter, aided both by biochemical processes linked to endogenous enzymes and the salt, microscopic flora (more especially moulds, whose spores are present naturally in the curing chambers) develop on the surface of the ham and give the product its special organoleptic characteristics. The product's characteristic sweetness can be ascribed to the cool air from the upper Lumiei Valley which is allowed to enter the curing chambers, to having the right quantities of salt present, and to the lack of oxidation of the covering fat. It is in this sense that the production of Prosciutto di Sauris is closely linked to the environmental (i.e. climatic) and biological characteristics of the area. To this unique environment is added the age-old local know-how in terms of the salt-curing and smoke-curing of meat. Smoking, a technique brought to the area by the earliest settlers, imparts special sensory characteristics to the product, in particular with regard to its colour and, above all, its smell and flavour. Now, as in the past, locally grown beechwood is used, the smoke giving the product a soft and delicate aroma which is characteristic of the PGI. Moreover the local population's skill in combining the practice of smoking — a Germanic tradition — and the more usual subalpine tradition of salting, helps to give Prosciutto di Sauris its special organoleptic characteristics, in particular its pleasant smoky smell and flavour.

4.7.   Inspection body:

The inspection body complies with Standard EN 45011.

4.8.   Labelling:

Each ham must be stamped — using indelible ink — or hot-branded to show both the date, month (in Roman numerals) and year when processing began and the slaughterhouse of origin. The Protected Geographical Indication ‘Prosciutto di Sauris’ must appear, in Italian, in clear and indelible characters readily distinguishable from any other writing on the label, followed, immediately afterwards, by the words ‘Indicazione geografica protetta’ and/or the abbreviation IGP. Indications may be used which refer to privately owned brands or names, provided they are not laudatory or are such as to mislead the consumer. The PGI logo must be reproduced on the labels, packaging and any additional graphic material.

The PGI logo consists of a green-edged dark blue oval. Within the latter, surmounted by the outline of a white mountain and two green firs, the word ‘Sauris’ is written in yellow with, below it, two sky blue wavelets.