EN Official Journal of the European Union C 388/6

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

(2016/C 388/06)

This publication confers the right to oppose the amendment application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EC) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1).

APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF AN AMENDMENT TO THE PRODUCT SPECIFICATION OF TRADITIONAL SPECIALITIES GUARANTEED WHICH IS NOT MINOR

Application for approval of an amendment in accordance with the first subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012

‘OVČÍ HRUDKOVÝ SYR – SALAŠNÍCKY’

EU No: TSG-SK-02135-14.4.2016

1. Applicant group and legitimate interest

Name of the group : Družstvo – Cech výrobcov ovčieho syra v Turci Address : Poľnohospodárske družstvo Turčianske Kľačany 271 038 61 Vrútky SLOVENSKO/SLOVAKIA Telephone : +421 4343085213 E-mail address : tas_sro@stonline.sk

The group applying for the amendment is the same group as submitted the application to register ‘Ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky’.

2. Member State or Third Country

Slovak Republic

3. Heading in the product specification affected by the amendment

— ☐ Name of product — ☐ Description of product — ☐ Method of production — ☒ Other [to be specified]

Registration of traditional speciality guaranteed without reservation of the name to be replaced by registration of traditional speciality guaranteed with reservation of the name.

4. Type of amendment(s)

— ☒ Amendment to product specification of registered TSG not to be qualified as minor in accordance with the fourth subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

5. Amendment(s)

1. Registration of traditional speciality guaranteed without reservation of the name to be replaced by registration of traditional speciality guaranteed with reservation of the name. This amendment is being proposed in order to safeguard the registration of the product name concerned, as the option of registering names of agricultural products and foodstuffs as traditional specialities guaranteed without reservation of the name has been abolished and, under Article 25(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, names registered in accordance with Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 509/2006 (2), including those registered pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 58(1) of that Regulation (guaranteed traditional specialities without reservation of the name) may continue to be used under the conditions provided for in Regulation (EC) No 509/2006 only until 4 January 2023.

PRODUCT SPECIFICATION OF A TRADITIONAL SPECIALITY GUARANTEED

‘OVČÍ HRUDKOVÝ SYR – SALAŠNÍCKY’

EU No: TSG-SK-02135-14.4.2016

Slovak Republic

1. Name(s) to be registered

‘Ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky’

2. Type of product (as in Annex XI)

1.3. Cheeses

3. Grounds for registration

3.1. Whether the product

— ☒ results from a mode of production, processing or composition corresponding to traditional practice for that product or foodstuff — ☐ is produced from raw materials or ingredients that are those traditionally used

The product has been made for several centuries. It is traditionally produced by hand in a shepherd's hut (salaš), using traditional technology for processing curds manually, only during spring and summer.

3.2. Whether the name

— ☐ has been traditionally used to refer to the specific product — ☒ identifies the traditional character or specific character of the product

The specific character is determined by the nature of the raw material, i.e. raw sheep's milk, and the traditional processing thereof in shepherds' huts. The term ‘salašnícky’ in the name expresses the product's specific nature and is derived from the word ‘salaš’, denoting a shepherd's hut, where the cheese is made, and hence also expresses a link to the place of production.

4. Description

4.1. Description of the product to which the name under point 1 applies, including its main physical, chemical, microbiological or organoleptic characteristics showing the product's specific character (Article 7(2) of this Regulation)

‘Ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky’ is a cheese which is produced from fresh sheep's milk in shepherds' huts and derives its characteristic taste as a result of the traditional technology used during its fermentation, and of being shaped by hand into a lump.

Physical properties:

— spherical shape, in the form of a lump,

— size: weight up to 5 kg;

Chemical properties:

— dry matter: at least 40 % by weight,

— fat in dry matter: at least 50 % by weight;

Microbiological criteria:

Contains a range of microorganisms, including in particular:

Acidogenic microorganisms — Streptococcus lactis, Leuconostos mesenteroides, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus plantarum; yeasts and moulds – Torulopsis candida, Geotrichum candidum, Geotrichum casei;

Organoleptic properties:

— external appearance: dry, intact, unblemished surface, slight crust in cross-section, with smallish holes and small cracks here and there;

— colour: white to yellowish on the surface, white with a slight yellow tinge in cross-section;

— taste and smell: mild, slightly acidic, clean taste, typical of sheep's milk products;

— consistency: firm and elastic.

— acidity: pH 5,2-4,9.

4.2. Description of the production method of the product to which the name under point 1 applies that the producers must follow including, where appropriate, the nature and characteristics of the raw materials or ingredients used, and the method by which the product is prepared (Article 7(2) of this Regulation)

Collection of sheep's milk:

— milk for the production of the cheese is obtained from healthy sheep (sheep of races reared in mountain and foothill areas) by hand-milking in a milking pen (strunga) located in natural conditions. The milk is collected in a rust-proof milking pail fitted with a filtering device (traditionally the milk was collected in a wooden pail). When the pail (geleta) is full, its contents are strained into a milk can through a sieve containing a cotton-wool filter (the milk may also be collected mechanically, in a mobile or stationary milking parlour);

— the milk collected is transferred in the cans to the production premises – a shepherd's hut (salaš-koliba).

Processing the milk into cheese – production of sheep's milk lump cheese:

— The freshly collected milk is processed immediately after milking, after being transferred to the production area of the shepherd's hut, where it is poured from the can into a putera, a vessel used for cheese production; during this process, it is re-filtered through a cotton-wool filter. A wooden vessel (putera) or a stainless steel double-bottomed vessel is used to produce the cheese.

— The temperature of the milk is raised to 30-32 °C by adding hot drinking water (at a temperature of 50 °C) directly to the milk or by heating it with the aid of hot water in a jacketed vessel or putera, or by adding boiled sour sheep's milk whey.

— After the temperature has been raised to 30–32 °C, microbial liquid rennet (based on the salt-stabilised fungus Rhizomucor miehei) is added, accompanied by continuous stirring, at a quantity of 40 ml of rennet per 100 l of milk (the amount of rennet is determined by the producer on the basis of its strength). The amount of rennet used also depends on the milking period (i.e. the quality of the milk, which changes during the milking period). The milk curdles approximately 30-45 minutes after the rennet is added.

— The curds thus produced are stirred and cut with a curd-harp until a grain size of 0,5-1 cm is obtained.

— Boiled drinking water, cooled to 65 °C, is added to the cut curds in order to heat them to 32-35 °C, thus improving the release of whey from the curd grains. The curds are stirred well and left to rest. Throughout the production of the sheep's milk lump cheese, the temperature of the milk and whey must not fall below 29 °C.

— The settled curds are compressed by hand after about 10 minutes and worked into a lump with the aid of a cheesecloth.

— The lump is left to drain for about two hours, hanging on a hook.

— After draining, the cheese is transferred to a warm storage area – the ripening room – where the fermentation process takes place. Cheese shaped in a cheesecloth is hung on a hook and later placed on a shelf that is designed in such a way as to allow whey to drain off.

— The temperature of the room during fermentation must not fall below 18–22 °C. The cheese ferments in two or, at most, three days under such conditions. The temperature during fermentation is monitored.

— When the production process is complete, the cheese may be sold. When sold, the cheese is packaged and labelled.

4.3. Description of the key elements establishing the product's traditional character (Article 7(2) of this Regulation)

The ‘salašnícky’ element of the cheese's name is derived from the traditional production site, which was a shepherd's hut (salaš). Its traditional character stems from its traditional composition, production method and processing.

As P. Huba stated in the book entitled Zázrivá, ‘Small-scale highland sheep-farming in Zázrivá was focused on the production of sheep's milk, which was always processed in the shepherd's home (salaš), where ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky was offered as a delicacy to people visiting the shepherd.’ (Martin: Osveta. 1988).

Traditional ‘ovčí hrudkový syr salašnícky’ was produced from fresh sheep's milk by curdling it with the aid of natural rennet (kľag) in a putera at an average temperature (of 32 °C) for 10-30 minutes. The coagulated milk was first shaken, then left to settle, and finally the curds were placed in a cheesecloth and pressed into a compact lump. The curd-filled cheesecloth was hung on a cleat, where it was left for the whey to drain off.

After draining, the lump of cheese was removed from the cloth and placed upside down onto a wooden shelf (podišiar), where it was left for several days to dry and ripen. Once ripened, the lumps of cheese were taken from the shepherd's hut to the homes of the people who owned the sheep (Podolák Ján: Slovenský národopis 25, 1977).

In the 20th century, the production of ‘ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky’ and ‘ovčí salašnícky údený syr’ spread throughout the mountainous areas of Slovakia where sheep were reared.

‘Ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky’ and ‘ovčí salašnícky údený syr’ are amongst the dairy products of traditional Wallachian sheep-farming, the production of which was the main reason for rearing sheep in the mountainous regions of Slovakia. As a culinary speciality, it was used fresh (succulent — sweet) or fermented or dried, or preserved by smoking. (Podolák Ján: Slovenský národopis 25, 1977). Prokop wrote as follows in an article entitled ‘Z histórie Ovčieho mliekárstva na Slovensku’: ‘Wallachian culture is still evident in these parts owing to the carving skills of our shepherds; its influences are still to be seen in the exquisitely carved bowls (črpáky) that shepherds used’. (Slovenská spoločnosť pre racionálnu výživu, Bratislava, 1969). Heart- or duck-shaped moulds are used for ‘ovčí salašnícky údený syr’. Dr Ján Balko, author of Bryndziarsky priemysel na Slovensku, published by Osveta in 1968, made the following observation: ‘We have no precise evidence showing who produced the first sheep's milk lump cheese here, or when they did so. However, we can safely assume that it was many centuries ago, given that, right up to 1914, the way sheep were farmed for milk did not differ much from the farming practices that existed at the time of the migration of the peoples.’ In Ovčie mliekárstvo a syrárstvo po novom it is stated that: ‘… the quality of the bryndza produced depends mainly on the quality of the ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky’ (Edícia Povereníctva SNR pre pôdohospodárstvo, Bratislava, 1966). The name and traditional production method of ‘ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky’ and ‘ovčí salašnícky údený syr’ were also used by shepherds from the municipality of Priechod, who worked in shepherds' huts in the 1960s and 1970s in the Turiec region (observation made orally by one Lamper, a shepherd, and a certain Ivanič from Priechod). P. Jasenský, a shepherd from Dolná Jaseň, recalls that ‘Ovčí hrudkový syr – salašnícky and ovčí salašnícky údený syr have been made since time immemorial, but only in small quantities, and they were used for direct consumption in shepherds’ huts or were, and are, sold to people visiting shepherds' huts. They are traditional delicacies enjoyed by Slovaks living in mountain and foothill regions'. (Prehlásenie pána Jasenského, 1999).

(1) OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 93, 31.3.2006, p. 1.