Publication of an application for registration of a name pursuant to Article 50(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

(2019/C 333/08)

This publication confers the right to oppose the application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) within three months from the date of this publication.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘PECORINO DEL MONTE PORO’

EU No: PDO-IT-02420 — 16.5.2018

PDO (X) PGI ( )

1.   Name(s)

‘Pecorino del Monte Poro’

2.   Member State or third country

Italy

3.   Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1.   Type of product

Class 1.3. Cheeses

3.2.   Description of the product to which the name in (1) applies

‘Pecorino del Monte Poro’ PDO is a cheese made from sheep’s milk that comes in three types depending on the length of the maturing period:

fresco (‘fresh’), preserved for 20-60 days;

semistagionato (‘semi-mature’), aged 61 days to six months;

stagionato (‘mature’), aged 6-24 months.

When released for consumption, the product has the following characteristics:

Physical characteristics

Shape: Round with flat faces.

Diameter of the flat sides: 6 to 40 cm.

Heel height: 6 to 20 cm.

Weight: The fresco and semistagionato types weigh between 600 g and 2,5 kg, while stagionato cheeses weigh up to 10 kg.

Rind: Hard and coarse, with a colour ranging from golden yellow (fresco) to light or medium brown (semistagionato and stagionato), with a reddish tone when the rind has been coated with chilli pepper and extra virgin olive oil.

Body: Compact, sometimes irregularly dotted with small eyes. When cut, the colour ranges from white (fresco) to different intensities of straw yellow (semistagionato and stagionato). While fresco cheese has a soft consistency when cut, the semistagionato and stagionato types are progressively firmer.

Chemical characteristics

Fat content in the dry matter: ≥ 45 %;

Protein (Nx 6,25 ): ≥ 20 %;

Organoleptic characteristics

Taste: The cheese is fragrant, with an aroma reminiscent of wild flowers, Mediterranean scrub and hay. It has a rich and pleasantly nutty taste which becomes more and more intense the longer the cheese is aged, with a pronounced sharpness and full-bodied flavour in the stagionato type.

3.3.   Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

‘Pecorino del Monte Poro’ is made using raw whole sheep’s milk from two milking sessions (the morning of the cheesemaking and the evening before) from free-range sheep that are only penned at night and are reared in the area described in point 4. The sheep’s diet is made up of plant species native to the Monte Poro area. These are foraged fresh in the summer and consumed as hay in the winter. In years that are marked by particularly adverse weather conditions as a result of drought or severe winters, making it impossible to produce enough forage to feed the flocks, the amount of forage with the abovementioned characteristics can drop to 70 %, since external hay supplies from outside the PDO production area are allowed but may not exceed 30 % of the total forage used to feed the sheep. During the lactation period only and to ensure the animals are properly fed, up to 15 % of their diet can be supplemented with grains and pulses (whole, flaked or ground), mineral salts and vitamins, including from outside the PDO production area, since sufficient quantities of these cannot be produced in situ due to the mountainous terrain, climate conditions and vocational context of the local area.

The sheep may not be fed any genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The milk is curdled using rennet from the lining of the fourth stomach of exclusively milk-fed lambs and/or kids.

3.4.   Specific steps in production that must take place in the identified geographical area

The sheep must be reared and ‘Pecorino del Monte Poro’ made and aged within the geographical production area defined in point 4.

3.5.   Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product the registered name refers to

‘Pecorino del Monte Poro’ can be sold whole or in portions.

3.6.   Specific rules concerning labelling of the product the registered name refers to

When the cheese is released for consumption, labels must be attached to one of the two faces of whole cheeses and to the packaging used for portions and slices.

The labelling must show the following information, which must be clear and legible:

—	‘Pecorino del Monte Poro’ (the name cannot be translated, but translations into the languages of the European countries where the product is sold can be included) followed by ‘Denominazione di Origine Protetta’ or ‘DOP’ (‘Protected Designation of Origin’ or ‘PDO’), which can be translated,

—	the type of cheese based on the maturing period, in other words: fresco, semistagionato or stagionato,

—	the product logo, as shown below.

No description may be added that is not expressly provided for.

References to names, business names or brand names may be used provided these have no laudatory purport and are not such as to mislead the consumer. Other truthful and verifiable references that are permitted under current legislation may also be used, provided that they do not conflict with the purposes and content of the product specification.

4.   Concise definition of the geographical area

The sheep are reared and ‘Pecorino del Monte Poro’ is made and matured solely within the area comprising the following municipalities, all of which are part of the Monte Poro district in the Vibo Valentia province: Joppolo, Spilinga, Zungri, Rombiolo, Nicotera, Limbadi, Zaccanopoli, Drapia, Filandari, Briatico, Ricadi, Maierato, Mileto, San Calogero, Parghelia, Pizzo, Stefanaconi, Filogaso, Tropea, San Costantino Calabro, San Gregorio d’Ippona, Sant’Onofrio, Vibo Valentia, Zambrone, Cessaniti, Ionadi and Francica.

5.   Link with the geographical area

Lying between the Gulf of Lamezia and the Gioia Tauro plain, the production area is bordered to the north by the Angitola plain, to the south by the Rosarno plain, and to the west by the Catanzaro Apennine ridge.

This region’s local vegetation makes up the bulk of the sheep’s diet (at least 70 %) through grazing. The steep, hard-to-access areas of the Poro plateau used for grazing sheep are widely populated with vigorous, dense shrub species typical of Mediterranean scrub such as the Spanish broom, myrtle, wild olive, mastic tree and hawthorn (Simone Cesare Lombardi, 2003: Il Poro e la Costa di Capo Vaticano (‘Mount Poro and the Capo Vaticano Coast’)). It is precisely these Mediterranean scrubland shrubs and vegetation that give the cheese’s organoleptic profile its distinctive features (bouquet), setting it apart from other sheep’s-milk cheeses. As well as the velvety taste, notes of the herbs and flowers of Mount Poro are clearly perceptible in the cheese’s flavour, along with a slightly nutty or grassy aftertaste. This is because the odoriferous substances of the native vegetation are fat-soluble and can be transmitted via fat to the milk, and from there to the cheese. In addition, there are certain unique aspects of the cheesemaking process that ensure the presence of this distinctive bouquet, most notably:

—	the use of raw whole milk, collected and made into cheese without any heat treatment that could alter its organoleptic characteristics, and

—	the low temperatures at which the cheesemaking process takes place (32-38 °C), ensuring that dissolved substances are preserved and limiting the volatility of flavours.

Moreover, continuing to perform parts of the cheesemaking process by hand shows the high specialisation and craftsmanship within the production system, which remains inextricably linked to expert cheesemakers who often cannot be found elsewhere. Their expertise directly influences the quality of certain stages in the production cycle (renneting, shaping and ageing, for example), making the cheese ‘typical’ because of its close link with the production area.

The cheese is mentioned in relation to its place of origin in bibliographical sources that are centuries old, from the 1571 work De antiquitate et situ Calabriae, written by humanist and historian Gabriele Barrio from Vibo Valentia, to the 1770 essay Saggio per l’economia campestre per la Calabria Ultra (Study of the countryside economy for Southern Calabria) by Reggio Calabrian economist and philosopher Domenico Grimaldi from Seminara. This link has remained very much alive through time, as illustrated in: the writings of Saverio Di Bella in 1985 (‘The sheep’s milk cheeses and ricottas of Poro are white, soft and flavoursome thanks to the local pastures and the widespread presence of oregano that grows spontaneously in the area’); the various editions of Atlante dei prodotti tipici. I formaggi (Atlas of typical products — Cheeses) edited by the National Institute of Rural Sociology (INSOR) (‘The pastures of Mount Poro and the San Bruno mountains are rich in grasses, many of them fragrant. The cheeses produced in this area are sold to coastal tourists for their good quality and the reputation they have acquired’); the book Formaggi d’Italia(Italian Cheese: A Guide to Their Discovery and Appreciation) published by Slow Food in 1999 (‘The grass of the pastures in the Monte Poro area is particularly rich in flavour- and aroma-enhancing elements and sheep’s milk cheeses produced there have always enjoyed an excellent reputation’) and Paolo Massobrio’s il Golosario (The Encyclopaedia of Taste), published in 2006 (‘The exclusive and highly aromatic taste of this cheese is the result of the grasses on which the local sheep and goat breeds are fed’). Finally, it should be noted that in 2012 ‘Pecorino del Monte Poro’ won the Gambero Rosso ‘outstanding’ award, at the Salone del Gusto in Turin, placing it among Italy’s 17 best cheeses.

Reference to publication of the specification

(the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation)

The full text of the product specification is available on the following website: http://www.politicheagricole.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/3335

or alternatively:

on the home page of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy (www.politicheagricole.it). The text can be accessed by clicking on ‘Qualità’ (at the top right of the screen), then on ‘Prodotti DOP IGP STG’ (on the left-hand side of the screen) and finally on ‘Disciplinari di Produzione all’esame dell’UE’.

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(1)  OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.