EN Official Journal of the European Union C 170/51

Publication of an application 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

2013/C 170/12

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).

SINGLE DOCUMENT

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs (2)

‘COZZA DI SCARDOVARI’

EC No: IT-PDO-0005-0981-12.03.2012

PGI ( ) PDO ( X )

1. Name

‘Cozza di Scardovari’

2. Member State or third country

Italy

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.7. Fresh fish, molluscs and crustaceans and products derived therefrom

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

The ‘Cozza di Scardovari’, which belongs to the species Mytilus galloprovincialis, is a bivalve mollusc with an elongated shape, with a purple-black coloured shell. The valves are convex, symmetrical in their shape which is almost triangular with subtle concentric markings. Relatively tough brown threads are attached to the shells, known as the byssus or beard, used to secure the mussel to its substrate or other support.

The ‘Cozza di Scardovari’ has the following physical and organoleptic characteristics:

— glistening flesh that fills the shell (flesh as a percentage of the total weight of the mollusc — quality indicator > 25 %),

— specific sweetness of the flesh (sodium content < 210 mg/100 g),

— flesh that is particularly tender and ‘melt-in-the-mouth’ with high taste levels.

The ‘Cozza di Scardovari’, at the time of sale, has to have a shell that is dark and does not fracture when tapped; the mussels may be sold live in netted packages, vacuum-packed or in a protective atmosphere, or frozen with or without shells.

3.3. Raw materials (for processed products only)

—

3.4. Feed (for products of animal origin only)

The ‘Cozza di Scardovari’ mussel principally feeds on the large amounts of organic and inorganic particles and the high levels of phytoplankton and zooplankton, specific to the Sacca di Scardovari.

Growth of organic and inorganic nutrients is favoured by the abundant inflows of fresh water from the various rivulets of the River Po, while the Sacca di Scardovari’s shallow water, temperature and oxygen levels combine to promote the development of rich phytoplankton and zooplankton populations. The mussels are not given any additional food or supplements.

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

The insemination, growth and harvesting phases for the ‘Cozza di Scardovari’ must take place exclusively in nurseries within the Sacca di Scardovari; the cleaning, washing, and product selection phases, which require clean Sacca di Scardovari water, must take place in units located in the area of Scardovari, Ca' Mello and Santa Giulia in the municipality of Porto Tolle.

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

The product must be packed in the area specified in point 4, within the production chain, immediately after the mussels are taken out of the cleaning tanks, so as to guarantee their vitality and freshness and to ensure compliance with hygiene/food safety criteria and enable due control, so as to prevent fraud consisting of mixing the product with mussels from other production areas.

3.7. Specific rules concerning labelling

The package must be sealed in such a manner as to ensure that opening the package breaks the seal. The label must bear the words: ‘Cozza di Scardovari’ and ‘Denominazione d’Origine Protetta’ (‘protected designation of origin’), or the letters ‘DOP’ (‘PDO’). The logo of the designation ‘Cozza di Scardovari D.O.P.’ must also appear as well as the European Union PDO logo.

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The Sacca di Scardovari production area comprises the territory of parts of Scardovari, Ca’ Mello and Santa Giulia in the municipality of Porto Tolle, in the province of Rovigo.

The term ‘Sacca’ refers to the marine inlet formed by the partial closure of a stretch of sea, which retains access to open sea via a lagoon.

The Sacca di Scardovari is located in the southern part of the Po Delta, between the branches of the Po di Tolle to the north-east and the Po di Gnocca to the south-west. It is bordered to the south by the following Gauss-Boaga West Zone geographical coordinates, which refer to the two offshore points dividing the Sacca from the Adriatic sea:

— 4971445,99 N — 1773953,45 E,

— 4967536,31 N — 1770965,25 E.

5. Link with the geographical area

5.1. Specificity of the geographical area

The Sacca di Scardovari is an environment that owes its specific characteristics to the meeting of fresh water currents from the River Po, rich in nutrients and suspended particles, with the salt water of the sea, subject to the tides.

The environmental characteristics of the Sacca di Scardovari stand out on account of the low salinity of the waters, as the sea water, with a salinity of around 35 %, is diluted by the fresh river water, with the result that the saline concentration of the waters in this area fluctuates between 10 % and 30 %, with an average of around 20 %. Furthermore, the river water provides high inputs of nutrients and suspended organic particles.

The shallow waters of the Sacca with maximum depths of 3 m allow good light diffusion throughout the whole column of water and ideal temperature conditions, on average higher than in the open sea, plus high phytoplankton growth levels. Furthermore, the changes of water, due to the tides, produce ideal hydrodynamic conditions and optimal oxygenation of the water, and contribute to a favourable environment for the growth of the mussels.

The first local fishermen’s cooperative was founded in Sacca di Scardovari in 1936. The transformation of the area over the last century happened very rapidly, both due to human intervention, and through natural and man-made influences, and the Sacca di Scardovari acquired its current aspect after the flooding of 1966. It was at this time that the first forays into mussel farming started with small nurseries within the Sacca, as an alternative to sea fishing, as testified by the report of the Fishermen’s Cooperative Board, with regard to the Scardovari mussel cleaning plant set up in the 1980s. Even the product quality is also the result of the producers’ savoir faire who, as far back as the 1960s, started experimenting with mussel farming in small nurseries within the Sacca, as an alternative to sea fishing. The mussel farming, which is done as a family business or through an association, uses traditional techniques to prepare the nurseries and to process the product, which is mostly done manually, and which consists of interventions to separate and thin out the mussels, remove parasites and select mussels by size in the various beds to allow more efficient growth.

5.2. Specificity of the product

The ‘Cozza di Scardovari’ is characterised by low sodium levels in the flesh (less than 210 mg/100 g of product), which is much lower than in mussels grown in the open sea and which results in the particular deliciousness and delicacy of the product on the palate and the sweetness of the flesh.

Furthermore, the Cozza mussels have a high quality indicator, over 25 %, which determines the remarkable fullness of the flesh in the shell due to the high metabolism and considerable growth of the edible parts. This mussel growth, which takes place in just eight or nine months of the settling of the young mussels, yields high productivity typical of the ‘Cozza di Scardovari’.

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 quality, physical and organoleptic characteristics of ‘Cozza di Scardovari’ are the result of the special environmental conditions of the Sacca after which they are named. Specifically, the low saline levels of the waters in the Sacca where the ‘Cozze di Scardovari’ are produced result in low levels of sodium in their flesh — less than 210 mg/100 g of product — a characteristic that helps to make the taste of the mussels particularly delicious, delicate and tender on the palate.

The high concentration of suspended organic particles and the high growth levels of phytoplankton in the shallow waters of the Sacca result in the mussels’ high metabolism and the remarkable development of the edible parts with a quality indicator of over 25 % as well as the rapid growth typical of the ‘Cozza di Scardovari’.

The geographical and morphological characteristics of the Sacca di Scardovari (low water levels, constant changes of water due to the tides, ideal temperature, oxygenation and hydrodynamic conditions) and the professionalism of the producers as regards the traditional production and farming techniques directly influence the mussels’ well-being, thus allowing faster and more uniform growth and quality control of the final product.

The reputation of the name and product is documented by the photo of the Cozza di Scardovari Festival in the 1980s; the production of mussels from the Sacca di Scardovari is at present of great economic significance for this region, employing many operators and family enterprises and the product is recognised by consumers both in Italy and in other European countries.

Reference to publication of the specification

(Article 5(7) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 (3))

The Ministry launched the national objection procedure with the publication of the proposal for recognising ‘Cozza di Scardovari’ as a protected designation of origin in Official Gazette of the Italian Republic No 271 of 21 November 2011.

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:

by going directly to the home page of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy (http://www.politicheagricole.it) and clicking on ‘Qualità e sicurezza’ (in the top right-hand corner of the screen) and then on ‘Disciplinari di Produzione all’esame dell’UE’.

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

(2) OJ L 93, 31.3.2006, p. 12. Replaced by Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

(3) See footnote 2.