EN Official Journal of the European Union C 283/15

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

(2008/C 283/10)

This publication confers the right to object to the application pursuant to Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 (1). Statements of objection must reach the Commission within six months of the date of this publication.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

‘PAGNOTTA DEL DITTAINO’

EC No: IT-PDO-0005-0577-07.12.2006

PGI ( ) PDO ( X )

1. Name

‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’

2. Member State or Third Country

Italy

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 2.4 — Bread, pastry, cakes, confectionery, biscuits and other baker's wares

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

‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ PDO is released for consumption in the traditional form of a round loaf weighing between 500 and 1 100 g or as a sliced, half loaf. The crust is between 3 and 4 mm thick and medium hard. The crumb is pale yellow, elastic, fine-grained, compact and uniform. The bread has a moisture content of no more than 38 % and maintains its organoleptic properties, such as its aroma, taste and freshness, for five days from the date of production.

3.3. Raw materials (for processed products only)

‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ PDO is bread produced using a particular method, employing natural leaven and durum-wheat flour of the varieties Simeto, Duilio, Arcangelo, Mongibello, Ciccio and Colosseo grown in the area referred to in point 4 below, which must account for at least 70 % of the total flour used. The remaining 30 % must be of durum wheat of the varieties Amedeo, Appulo, Bronte, Cannizzo, Cappelli, Creso, Iride, Latino, Norba, Pietrafitta, Quadrato, Radioso, Rusticano, Sant'Agata, Tresor or Vendetta grown in the production area.

The durum wheat used to make the flour must be grown from certified seed and meet the following minimum quality requirements: electrolytic weight > 78 kg/hl; protein (tot. N × 5,70) > 12 % of dry matter; moisture content < 12,5 %; gluten > 8 % of dry matter; yellow index > 17b minolta.

3.4. Feed (for products of animal origin only)

—

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

Cultivation and harvest of the grain and production and packing of ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ PDO must take place within the production area referred to in point 4 below in order to guarantee product traceability and control and to maintain product quality and the characteristic properties described in point 3.2 above.

In order to preserve the product's quality characteristics, it must be packed immediately, within the defined geographical area, in micropore plastic film or in a modified atmosphere to ensure compliance with health and hygiene requirements while allowing the product to breathe.

3.6. Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc.

‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ PDO is packed in micropore plastic film or in a modified atmosphere to ensure compliance with health and hygiene requirements while allowing the product to breathe.

3.7. Specific rules concerning labelling

The label must show the ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ logo.

It is forbidden to add any description that is not expressly provided for. However, references to brand names may be used, on condition that they have no laudatory purport and are not such as to mislead the purchaser. The PDO logo, the features and colours of which are described in detail in the product specification, is rectangular and shows at bottom left two ears of durum wheat at right angles to each other, framing two loaves, one of which is whole and the other, placed above it, is a half loaf. Bottom right is the Community PDO logo. Above, in the centre of a rectangular box, in a single horizontal line, are the words ‘PAGNOTTA DEL DITTAINO DOP’ (‘PAGNOTTA DEL DITTAINO PDO’).

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The PDO is produced in an area comprising the municipalities of Agira, Aidone, Assoro, Calascibetta, Enna, Gagliano Castelferrato, Leonforte, Nicosia, Nissoria, Piazza Armerina, Regalbuto, Sperlinga, Valguarnera Caropepe and Villarosa in the Province of Enna and the municipalities of Castel di Iudica, Raddusa and Ramacca in the Province of Catania.

5. Link with the geographical area

5.1. Specificity of the geographical area

The grain used for the production of ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ is grown in an area with a typically Mediterranean climate. Rainfall varies considerably over the year and is concentrated in autumn and winter, with an annual averages of around 500 mm. Average monthly temperatures are highest in July and August and lowest in January and February, but temperatures only rarely fall low enough to damage crops (0 °C). The soils in which the durum wheat is grown are fairly loamy.

5.2. Specificity of the product

The application for recognition of the ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ Protected Designation of Origin is justified by the fact that it differs from other products of the same type, among other things, in the consistency of its crust and its light yellow, fine, compact and uniform crumb. Another characteristic of ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ PDO is its capacity to maintain its organoleptic properties, such as its aroma, taste and freshness, for five days.

In times gone by, the harvested grain used to be stored in special pits or storehouses and, naturally, protected from water. The cereal was not treated to protect against fungal infestations or against insect parasites. The grain would be taken to local mills for grinding as needed.

Today, durum wheat harvested in the defined area is just pre-cleaned to separate the grain from the straw and to remove impurities and foreign bodies and is then placed in silos and stored without the use of pesticides or chemical products. Only physical treatments are permitted at the mill (cooling with cold air and turning the grain).

These treatments prevent overheating of the grain, something that creates ideal conditions for the growth of mould, the formation of mycotoxins and the hatching of the eggs of insect parasites and that can cause the germination of caryopses.

The natural leaven is derived from a starter that is renewed as necessary. This involves taking one part of starter and mixing it with two parts of flour and one part of water. After kneading, this produces four pieces of rising dough. One of these will serve as a renovated starter and the other three are added to the bread mixture as a natural leaven after being left to ripen for at least five hours.

5.3. Causal link between the geographical area and the quality or characteristics of the product (for PDO) or a specific quality, the reputation or other characteristic of the product (for PGI)

The special properties of ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ described in point 5.2 stem directly from the morphological characteristics, soil and climate of the production area referred to in point 4. Those properties are without any doubt due to and therefore closely linked to the durum wheat used as the main raw material in the production process, which, due to the soil and climate of the production area, has excellent quality and health characteristics (free from mycotoxins) and confers on ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ PDO its unique organoleptic properties.

Durum wheat, as historical sources relate, was always used in the area for bread-making, unlike in other parts of Italy where common wheat flour was and continues to be used, giving a product that conserved its principal organoleptic properties for a week.

This was the result of the use not only of durum wheat flour but also of ‘criscenti’ (natural leaven). The fermentation of the sourdough is based on a dynamic equilibrium between lactic bacteria and yeasts. The principal microbial species found are Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis (Lactobacillus brevis ssp. lindneri), Candida milleri and Saccharomyces exiguus.

Much of the evidence provided in ancient texts was gathered in the durum-wheat production area and has come, over time, to constitute a store of knowledge and traditions relating to cereal production and, in particular, bread-making.

Durum-wheat production in the areas of the interior of Sicily, including municipalities in the Provinces of Enna and Catania, is an important activity, not only because of the size of the area devoted to it but also because it involves land traditionally used for the dry cultivation of durum wheat. In those municipalities, because of both soil conditions and the climate, the only crop that has been able over the years to guarantee local farmers employment and a fair income is durum wheat.

Evidence of the important role played by durum wheat in the Sicilian diet is provided by Pliny the Elder in his ‘De Naturalis Historia’. While in other regions of Italy, flour was obtained from acorns, chestnuts or from other cereals, such as barley and rye, in Sicily farmers learned to make bread from wheat flour. According to Sonnino, people in the Sicilian countryside survived, despite serious shortages, by living on bread made from wheat flour.

Reference to publication of the specification

The Government launched the national objection procedure with the publication of the proposal for recognising ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ as a protected designation of origin in Official Gazette of the Italian Republic No 75 of 30 March 2006.

The full text of the product specification is available on the following website:

www.politicheagricole.it/ProdottiQualita/Disciplinari_esame_UE.htm

(1) OJ L 93, 31.3.2006, p. 12.