EN Official Journal of the European Union C 140/27

Publication pursuant to Article 18(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1898/2006 of the single document on a designation of origin or a geographical indication registered under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 in accordance with Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92

2013/C 140/12

SINGLE DOCUMENT

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs (1)

‘VITELA DE LAFÕES’

EC No: PT-PGI-0017-0249-20.01.2011

PGI ( X ) PDO ( )

1. Name

‘Vitela de Lafões’

2. Member State or Third Country

Portugal

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.1 — Fresh meat (and offal)

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

Meat from the cutting of carcases of young male and female bovines before they are weaned (five to seven months of age) of the Arouquesa and Mirandesa breeds and their crosses.

3.3. Raw materials (for processed products only)

—

3.4. Feed (for products of animal origin only)

The calves are fed with their mother’s milk up to the age when they are slaughtered (five to eight months). Besides suckling, the calves may be given a supplementary diet consisting of local hay, seasonal vegetation from pastures and concentrated feedingstuffs made primarily from maize flour, produced on the farm itself.

The mothers are fed on natural products such as maize, ryegrass, creeping soft grass, barley, grass and hay from irrigated pastures, common and other gorse, heather, soft broom, wild upland grasses and shrubs, oats, rye, straw and hay.

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

—

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

—

3.7. Specific rules concerning labelling

—

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

All parishes in the following municipalities: Oliveira de Frades, Vouzela and S. Pedro do Sul.

The parishes of: Cedrim and Couto de Esteves of the municipality of Sever do Vouga; Bodiosa and Ribafeita in the municipality of Viseu; and Alva and Gafanhão in the municipality of Castro Daire.

5. Link with the geographical area

5.1. Specificity of the geographical area

The area of Lafões, extended to the three mountain ranges that flank the River Vouga (the Caramulo, Gralheira and Montemuro ranges), has specific characteristics as regards climate, soil and relief. It also has a microclimate (as a transition point between maritime and continental climates) which makes it well suited to the growth of a number of species of trees and a shrubby-herbaceous vegetation, with a concentration of species such as broom, heather, common and other gorse, and rockrose trees which are used for animals to graze and which nutritionally give the meat its particular features.

5.2. Specificity of the product

The main characteristics of ‘Vitela de Lafões’ meat are its:

— colour: light pink colouring with white fat evenly spread across the meat, and fine muscle texture,

— consistency: firm and slightly moist, which marks it out as succulent,

— smell and taste: its smell and taste are ‘one of a kind’ and are a reflection of the natural feedingstuffs to which the animals have been exposed.

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 causal link between the geographical area and the quality and characteristics of the product stems from the traditional manner in which the animals are reared (mothers and calves), and the quality of the pasture and of the breeds that give rise to the product.

The qualities of ‘Vitela de Lafões’ were already recognised in the mid-19th century. Its provenance was also fairly well defined, as evidenced by volume 1 of Silvestre Bernardo de Lima’s ‘Archivo Rural’ from 1858: ‘Heifers and calves without equal, suckling or soon after they have been weaned, are in strong demand at the abattoir and produce the celebrated veal of S. Pedro do Sul and Lafões.’

Publication reference of the specification

(Article 5(7) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 (2))

http://www.gpp.pt/Valor/CE_Vitela_Lafoes.pdf

(1) Replaced by Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs (OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1).

(2) See footnote 1.