Consejo Regulador de la Indicación Geográfica Protegida ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’ [‘Alcachofa de Tudela’ Protected Geographical Indication Regulatory Board]

Avda. Serapio Huici, 22 Edificio Peritos

31610 Villava (Navarre)

ESPAÑA

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Name of product

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Description of product

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Geographical area

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Proof of origin

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Method of production

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Link

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Labelling

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Other: I. Applicable national legislation; G. Control body

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Amendment to product specification of a registered PDO or PGI not to be qualified as minor in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

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Amendment to product specification of registered PDO or PGI for which a Single Document (or equivalent) has not been published not to be qualified as minor in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012

5.1.A.1.

Grounds for this amendment: The option to market artichokes without stalks in peeled format has been added. Marketing this format enables consumers to buy a fresh, ready-to-cook artichoke and could prove an effective means of reaching groups of consumers who lack the time or ability to peel artichokes.

It is stated that the artichokes must be packaged in such a way as to maintain their appearance and freshness until they are consumed. At present, they are usually vacuum-packed in plastic packaging. However, there is no wish to rule out the potential use of other types of non-plastic packaging that are being developed.

These artichokes meet the same requirements as unpeeled artichokes marketed as fresh produce; they are halfway between these and the preserved artichokes also covered by the PGI ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’.

The text ‘may be presented in two formats’ has been changed to ‘may be presented in three formats’ to include this third format.

5.2.A.1

Grounds for this amendment: This amendment has been made to make it clear that the paragraph provides a general description of the Blanca de Tudela variety and does not lay down any restrictions on the size of the heads that may be picked. The size of the heads varies throughout the harvest season, with larger or smaller heads being picked depending on market demand and the weather conditions. Some markets prefer larger artichokes, while smaller artichokes are preferred in others and are used in preserving.

In any event, they are never very large. It is a characteristic of the variety that it does not yield large artichokes, as the plant begins to flower – making it unsuitable for marketing – once the artichoke reaches average size.

5.2.A.2

The description of artichokes with stalks now reads ‘a) Artichokes with stalks.- The heads may have a stalk approximately 18 cm long, with at least one or two whole leaves. They must be sold by the dozen.’ The words ‘approximately’ and ‘at least’ have been added, and the final phrase (‘in the traditional way, namely in bunches’) has been deleted.

Grounds for this amendment: This amendment does not introduce any new restrictions. Rather, it has been made to clarify that the product is usually sold with a stalk and leaves. Although these are not consumed, the product is traditionally marketed with them. ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’ is traditionally sold by the dozen, each artichoke having a stalk measuring approximately 18 centimetres. However, since the length of the stalk is not decisive for the quality of the product, the word ‘approximately’ has been added to give more freedom. The length of the stalk will depend on the point in the season at which the product is harvested. Stalks are longer earlier in the season and get shorter as it progresses, reflecting the natural development of the plant.

By contrast, the presence of leaves is important when artichokes are sold by the dozen. While the leaves are not usually consumed, fresh artichokes keep better when they are present. It is therefore important to point out that fresh artichokes must have at least one or two whole leaves and that artichokes without leaves are not permitted. The words ‘at least’ have been added to reflect this.

The phrase ‘in the traditional way, namely in bunches’ has been deleted because it is not necessary to market artichokes in bunches. Artichokes generally leave the premises of registered marketing companies in packaging that allows them to be transported safely without compromising their quality. Artichokes were formerly placed on markets in bunches, but are now usually sent to markets in boxes as they travel better this way. Once they reach the point of sale, they are sold by the dozen, but not necessarily in bunches.

5.2.A.3

Grounds for this amendment: The wording has been changed from ‘is limited to’ to ‘is shorter than’ to make it clear that the stalk must be less than 10 cm long.

It should be clarified that unlike artichokes with stalks, artichokes sold in this format do not have developed leaves. This product is generally sold by weight. It does not have developed leaves. That said, the artichokes often have small, immature leaves that are part of the stalk (which is less than 10 cm long). As the artichokes are sold with their stalks, these leaves cannot be removed without affecting the preservation of the artichokes. It should be made clear that while artichokes marketed without stalks cannot have fully developed leaves, there is no need to cut off the small, immature leaves that are part of the stalk. A picture has been included of an artichoke that has some developed leaves and some small, undeveloped leaves. This is to show that it is not possible to harvest the artichoke and leave the minimum stalk length required for its preservation without including the undeveloped leaves.

The phrase ‘They are sold by the kilogram’ has been deleted because it does not lay down a requirement. It appeared in the original product specification because of the similarity to artichokes with stalks and leaves, which are marketed by the dozen. However, there is no need to retain it because artichokes are normally marketed in this way.

5.2.B.1

Grounds for this amendment: The sentence ‘Its flavour is excellent, including when it is green’ has been deleted. It was clearly supposed to indicate that the flavour of the uncooked product is excellent, given that artichokes of the Blanca de Tudela variety are always green. It would be better to delete it because it is misleading and does not lay down a requirement or describe a distinctive characteristic.

5.2.B.2

Grounds for this deletion: The paragraph was deleted because the regulation to which it refers has been repealed and the regulation currently in force, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/428 of 12 July 2018, does not establish commercial classes for artichokes marketed as fresh produce and so does not serve as a reference for establishing commercial classes for artichokes.

The phrase ‘in Class I’ has been deleted because, as mentioned above, the classification was based on legislation that is no longer in force.

5.2.B.3

Grounds for this amendment: The text has been amended for clarity’s sake as the previous paragraph, which referred to a repealed European regulation, has been deleted. The phrase ‘Artichokes marketed as fresh produce’ has been inserted to make it clear that the characteristics described in the paragraph relate to artichokes marketed as fresh produce.

5.2.C.1

Grounds for this amendment: The first paragraph, which describes the location of Navarre and the districts that form it, has been deleted. The text now simply lists the municipalities making up the area covered by the PGI ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’; the rest of the information did not define this geographical area in any way.

Conversely, while the geographical area has not changed, the administrative division of Navarre into agricultural districts is no longer the same as that described in the product specification. All references to agricultural districts have therefore been removed from the text, which now simply lists the municipalities that fully make up the defined geographical area.

The paragraph describing crop distribution in the defined area has also been deleted, because crop distribution varies from one year to the next and the information does not add anything to the product specification.

The end of the last paragraph has been deleted to remove the reference to agricultural districts. It now refers to the production area instead. As mentioned previously, the division into districts has changed between the publication of the product specification and the present day.

5.2.D.1

Grounds for this amendment: This change is merely intended to provide a better and more precise explanation of how it is demonstrated that the product originates in the defined geographical area and complies with the other requirements laid down in the product specification.

The previous wording of this section of the product specification was rather vague and did not give a clear picture of the checks and tests carried out by the control body to ensure compliance with the product specification.

The proposed new wording provides a more detailed explanation of the actual checks and tests that are carried out by the inspection control as part of the certification procedure, which is compliant with standard UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17065:2012 and has been accredited by the National Accreditation Body.

Details have also been provided regarding the inspection system, which is based on: on-site inspections of artichoke fields; inspections carried out at the processing plants; and sampling and analysis during the processing season. This system is complemented by the processing plants’ own internal inspection systems. The text also now specifies the registers where the operators involved in producing the PGI artichokes have to be listed so that the inspection system can be implemented.

5.2.E.1

Grounds for this amendment: The text has been deleted because it does not lay down any requirements regarding the method of production: it states that crop rotation is traditionally recommended and notes that no problems attributable to repeated production of the same crop have been observed when crop rotation is not performed.

5.2.E.2

Grounds for this amendment: The text has been deleted because it does not lay down any requirements regarding the method of production. It is not the Regulatory Board that determines which soils are suitable for cultivation; the producer is responsible for selecting parcels with soil characteristics that will enable the crop to develop in such a way that it can produce heads of artichoke meeting the quality characteristics required by the PGI.

5.2.E.3

Grounds for this amendment: The text has been deleted because it does not lay down any requirements regarding the method of production. The old text describes how fertilisers were applied when the product specification was drawn up and refers to standards that have since been repealed. Both crop rotation and fertiliser use must follow agricultural best practices and comply with the legislation in force at the time. Since they are not specific characteristics of the production of ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’ and are instead general requirements, they do not need to be mentioned in the product specification.

5.2.E.4

Grounds for this amendment: The paragraphs describing techniques for fertilisation and the preparation of rows for planting have been deleted because they refer to cultivation techniques – some of which are obsolete – that are not specific to the PGI ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’.

The planting density and the distance between the plants and rows do not substantially affect the quality of the crop, but instead depend on the machinery available to the producer. The description has therefore been deleted.

The reference to Navarre’s Agricultural Technology and Management Institute as the body responsible for overseeing plant selection has been deleted; this was a public company reporting to the Government of Navarre and no longer exists. Now, the farmers who produce the root crowns are responsible for selecting the plant that will be left in place to produce the root crowns. These farmers often bring in independent third parties to certify that the plant was selected properly.

There is still a description of the planting season. However, no restriction has been placed on the dates because they depend on when the artichoke plant has dried, the root crowns have been extracted and the ground conditions are suitable for planting.

5.2.E.5

Grounds for this amendment: The text has been deleted because it does not set out requirements that are specific to the PGI ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’; it merely describes the technique used at the time the product specification was drafted. Nowadays, weeds are not removed from many parcels. Instead, controlled weed growth is allowed so as to provide ground cover and prevent water evaporation. Alternatively, cover materials may be used to suppress weeds and eliminate the need for herbicide use.

5.2.E.6

Grounds for this amendment: The text now emphasises that irrigation is required for cultivating the artichokes because there is little rainfall in the production area.

The text describing irrigation techniques has been deleted because it is general, given that the most appropriate irrigation techniques will depend on the weather conditions at each stage of cultivation.

The text about irrigation in second-year fields has been deleted, because this also depends on the weather conditions at each stage of cultivation.

5.2.E.7

Grounds for this deletion: This text has been deleted because it refers to the plant protection treatments that were used when the original product specification was drafted, some of which are now prohibited. European legislation is placing restrictions on plant protection treatments and many producers of ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’ are turning to organic treatments. It therefore makes little sense to mention plant protection treatments, as these can change over time and there are no specific requirements relating to them for the PGI ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’.

5.2.E.8

Grounds for this amendment: The paragraph referring to the optimum development of the artichoke heads has been deleted because it is a general description applying to all artichokes and does not lay down any specific requirements that should be included in the product specification.

The paragraphs referring to harvest periods and the intended uses of the harvested artichokes have been deleted. Harvesting begins when there are fully developed artichokes on the plant; the time at which this happens varies greatly depending on the weather in autumn and on winter frosts, since the harvesting of artichokes for certification can begin only when the frosts are over.

The use to which the harvested artichokes are put will depend on market demand. The fresh produce market usually takes precedence. When it cannot absorb all of the artichokes that have been produced, they go to the preserving market, where prices tend to be slightly lower.

Two words in the paragraph have been changed to improve its wording: ‘removed’ has been changed to ‘cut’ because artichokes are harvested with a knife, and ‘daily’ has been changed to ‘constant’ because the fields are not harvested every day; the weather conditions may cause the artichokes to develop more quickly or more slowly, making it necessary to increase or decrease the frequency of harvesting.

5.2.E.9

Grounds for this amendment: This section was amended to stress that the root crowns planted under the PGI ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’ must come from parcels where the artichokes are grown as an annual crop and not a biennial crop.

A reference to July has been added because planting takes place in July and August.

The description of root crown production has been deleted because this process is not covered by the product specification.

5.2.E.10

Grounds for this amendment: The text now stresses that the artichokes must come from registered parcels and the cultivar must be Blanca de Tudela: these are distinctive characteristics of the protected product.

The definitions of the types of packaging permitted have been deleted, leaving operators free to decide which type of packaging they will use to market the artichokes. They must now notify the control body of the packaging they use. Now that artichokes are being sold as fresh produce in supermarkets, there is demand for smaller sales units than those used to market artichokes when the product specification was drafted. The packaging is not deemed a distinctive characteristic of fresh ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’.

The text now contains the requirement that, as with preserved ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’, acidulants may not be added to artichokes marketed as fresh produce.

The requirement relating to sizing has not been changed.

5.2.E.11

Grounds for this amendment: Numbering has been added to the heading and the reference to ‘section B’ has been deleted because it does not lay down any requirements.

The text now specifies that only ‘Extra Class’ and ‘Class I’ produce may be used. Traditionally, it has not been permitted to use ‘Class II’ produce to make the protected preserved product. A requirement to this effect has therefore been added to the product specification.

5.2.E.12

Grounds for this amendment: This section has been restructured to separate the different stages in the production of the preserved product. The text now stresses that the raw material must come from registered parcels and be of the protected cultivar. The reference to the commercial class of the fresh artichokes, which has been removed from the relevant section, has been deleted here too. This change has been made because the legislation defining ‘Class I’ for artichokes marketed as fresh produce has been repealed.

5.2.E.13

Grounds for this deletion: Now that the section has been restructured, this paragraph no longer makes sense. The sterilisation requirements are explained later in the text.

5.2.E.14

Grounds for this amendment: Only the structure of the paragraphs has been changed; no new information has been added. The original paragraph has been split in two because it describes two stages in the processing of preserved ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’: washing and blanching.

5.2.E.15

Grounds for this amendment: This paragraph has been restructured, but still contains the original information. It now also clarifies that artichokes are sized based on the diameter of their hearts. The original paragraph has been split in two because it describes two stages in the processing of preserved ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’: sizing and cutting.

5.2.E.16

Grounds for these amendments: The structure has been amended. The section dealing with packing and the addition of preserving liquid has been separated from the section on pre-heating because these are two different stages in the process of producing preserved ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’. The section on packing emphasises that the product must not contain acidulants or acidity regulators, as their absence is a characteristic of the protected product. The text now stresses that the container must be made of glass and notes that the pre-heating process is optional.

Pre-heating more effectively removes the air trapped in the containers, but if a long time passes between the product being packed and the containers being closed and sterilised, it is better not to increase the product’s temperature because of the associated microbiological risk. Pre-heating would keep the containers warm for long enough for thermophilic microorganisms to grow, which could subsequently cause the product to spoil.

5.2.E.17

Grounds for this amendment: The same structure has been used as in the previous paragraphs. The text now includes the requirement that heat treatment must be sufficient to ensure that the preserved product is sterile for marketing; this is already required under current certification procedures. It would be better to allow the processors to decide which form of heat treatment to use for the preserved product, rather than specifying temperatures as the original product specification did. It stipulated that the temperature for sterilisation was between 115 °C and 121 °C: although this is the usual temperature range for sterilising preserved artichokes, in future there may be new autoclaves offering more suitable, less energy-intensive treatment methods that conserve the preserved product’s texture, as is required for protected status.

5.2.E.18

Grounds for this amendment: The requirements for the commercial class ‘Class II’ have been removed from the table because the PGI does not cover this class and mentioning it may cause confusion.

5.2.E.19

Grounds for this amendment: The heart is the most highly regarded part of the artichoke, and artichokes with very large bracts are deemed to be of worse quality than artichokes with smaller bracts because less of the bract was cut away when the hearts were processed. This is why the text now stresses that uniformity is measured by looking at the uniformity of bract length. The measurement is carried out as before, namely by taking 20 % of the artichokes with longer bracts and 20 % of those with shorter bracts and showing the result as a ratio between the two.

5.2.F.1

Grounds for this amendment: These paragraphs have been deleted because they do not provide any specific information about ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’, but rather discuss irrigation in Navarre.

5.2.F.2

Grounds for this amendment: The reference to the two maps has been deleted and the text now simply describes the defined area. The maps in the original product specification are old and their resolution is poor, and they do not add any information to the product specification.

5.2.F.3

Grounds for this amendment: The reference to the maps has been deleted. The maps in the original product specification are old and their resolution is poor, and they do not add any information to the product specification.

5.2.F.4

Grounds for this amendment: These paragraphs have been deleted because they do not describe the soil characteristics of the soils in the defined area and instead describe general soil classification. Once again, the references to the maps have been deleted as explained above; they are no longer included as annexes.

5.2.F.5

Grounds for this deletion: The reference to the maps has been deleted because they are no longer part of the product specification. The paragraphs describing the climate based on the crops that could be grown have also been deleted because they are general: they discuss the potential to grow crops other than ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’, i.e. the crop covered by the product specification.

5.2.F.6

Grounds for this amendment: The paragraphs dealing with the management of water resources have been removed from the section describing the hydrography, as they are not relevant to the characteristics of ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’.

The reference to Map 11 has been deleted because it is no longer included as an annex, since it is an old map that did not provide any information.

5.2.F.7

Grounds for this deletion: The section on flora and natural meadows has been deleted. While it provides a detailed description of the flora and natural meadows present in the defined area, it does not relate to any specific characteristics of ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’.

5.2.H.1

Grounds for this deletion: These two points have been deleted because they do not provide any additional information and could cause misinterpretations. Two different elements may be used to certify the artichokes, namely the certification label and the band, both of which are numbered and are issued by the Regulatory Board. They are described further down.

5.2.H.2

Grounds for this amendment: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, all ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’ packaging, be it for fresh or preserved artichokes, must feature either the band or the certification label, which is why the phrase ‘or bands’ has been added. The last sentence has been deleted because it does not add anything. It is obvious that artichokes bearing neither a certification label nor a certification band are not certified products.

5.2.H.3

Grounds for this amendment: The last part of the fourth point has been deleted because it refers to concepts not featured in the current certification system, such as the authorisation of facilities and the disqualification of products by the Regulatory Board. The Regulatory Board is not responsible for authorising registered facilities, nor for qualifying or disqualifying the product; decisions on (dis)qualification are made by the registered operator. The text still states that labelling must take place in registered facilities. To be registered, a facility must pass all the inspections and be certified as an ‘Alcachofa de Tudela’ processing plant or marketing facility, as described in the ‘Inspections’ section.

This is also the reason for the removal of the requirement regarding authorisation of commercial labels by the Regulatory Board. Instead, the text now states that labels must be submitted to the Regulatory Board for registration. While the Regulatory Board does not authorise commercial labels, it must register all labels using the markings. The paragraph has therefore been amended to specify that labels must be submitted to the Regulatory Board. During the registration process, authorisation to use the PGI logo may be denied if the labels may confuse consumers.

Finally, the paragraph mentioning refusal by the Regulatory Board to approve labels has been deleted because under current legislation, the Regulatory Board is not responsible for approving or refusing to approve labels.

5.2.H.5

Grounds for this amendment: Once again, the phrase ‘and band’ has been added because the certification elements are the certification label mentioned in the original text and the band.

The graphics for the logo, certification label and band have been inserted in the main document rather than being included as an annex.

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as fresh produce, either with a stalk (when marketed with a stalk approximately 18 cm long) or without a stalk (when the stalk is shorter than 10 cm);

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in kitchen-ready format, when peeled and packaged in such a way that the product stays fresh;

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in preserved format, as either artichoke hearts or artichoke halves, with no acidification. The final pH of the preserved product must be greater than 5,0.