EN Official Journal of the European Union C 37/20

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

2011/C 37/11

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 from the date of this publication.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

‘ ’ (JINXIANG DA SUAN)

EC No: CN-PGI-0005-0622-16.07.2007

PGI ( X ) PDO ( )

1. Name:

‘ ’ (Jinxiang Da Suan)

2. Member State or third country:

China

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff:

3.1. Type of product:

Class 1.6: Fruit, vegetables and cereals fresh or processed

3.2. Description of product to which the name in (1) applies:

Jinxiang Da Suan is one kind of local white garlic planted in Jinxing County which has features of bright white skin, regular oblate shape, 8-11 cloves in outer layer, mild hot taste, 5-7 cm in diameter and 40-80 g in weight.

3.3. Raw materials:

—

3.4. Feed (for products of animal origin only):

—

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

3.5.1. Soil preparation

Firstly the soil shall be ploughed in depth of 20-25 cm to ensure that the depth, fineness, permeability, solidness and flatness can be guaranteed, and then the furrow shall be prepared with width of 150-400 cm and bordered with the bank of height of 10-30 cm and width of 25-40 cm.

3.5.2. Selection and treatment of seed bulbs

Only bulbs with pure colour, which is weighed not less than 5 g, no overlapped cloves and free from rot, pest, cut, disease and sprouting, can be chosen as seed bulbs. The seed bulbs shall be placed in the sun for 2-3 days before planting.

3.5.3. Planting of seed bulbs

The planting period is from 8th to 15th of October. No more than 350 000 seed bulbs can be planted in one hectare. The seeds bulbs shall be covered with soil, which is 1-1,5 cm thick, after being planted.

3.5.4. Field management

3.5.4.1. Fertilizing

The quantity of organic compost applied in the field shall be not less than 67 500 kg/ha.

3.5.4.2. Plastic film covering

After sowing, the furrows shall be covered with plastic film, and the film should be broken by farmer when the sprout is 1-2 cm above the surface.

3.5.4.3. Irrigation

The seed bulbs can be watered in specific time during the growth period of the following year, including the late March when the seed bulb resume to green growth, the late April when the garlic scapes begin to grow and the early May when the garlic bulb begin to form after the garlic scapes are harvested.

3.5.5. Harvest and storage

The garlic will be harvested in the middle of May, when the leaves of lower part of stem become withering, only 2-4 leaves left green in the upper part of stem and the stem become soft. The harvested garlic shall be preserved by freezing with the temperature of – 2° ~ – 4° between 10th and 30th of July. The storage period should not exceed 300 days.

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

Grading — Top cutting — Peeling — Stem cutting — Quality check of semi-final product — Weighing — Packing — Working code printing — Quality check of final product should take place in the defined area.

Jinxiang Garlic is packed in hazard-free degradable cardboard boxes, or hazard-free degradable tuck net along with cardboard boxes. For packaging purposes, the size of bulbs ranges from 4,5-5 cm, 5-5,5 cm, 6-6,5 cm to 6,5 cm and greater ones; the weight ranges from 5 kg, 10 kg, 13 kg to 20 kg.

Export garlic is packaged in corrugated cardboard boxes with a specification of 40 × 30 × 20 cm or 38 × 27 × 21 cm.

3.7. Specific rules concerning labelling:

The designated PGI label should be indicated on the sales package as well as the name of growing regions (Jinxiang County, Shandong Province), name of product (Jinxiang Garlic), package specification, size specification, approval No of manufacturer, company trademark, gross weight, net weight, production date and shelf life.

4. Concise definition of the geographical area:

The specific place of origin of Jinxiang Da Suan includes the following town: Jinxiang town, Gaohe town, Puji town, Huji town, Yangshan town, Yushan town, Mamiao town, Jishu town, Xinglong town, Wangpi town, Huayu town, Sima town and Xiaoyun town, which cover a total area of 885 square kilometres.

The defined area is delimited in relation to soil conditions. The soil conditions of the origin place is as follows:

1. The topsoil is fluvo-aquic of light loam or medium loam;

2. The pH value of the soil, which is 0-20 cm thick of the arable land, is 7,0-8,0;

3. The content of organic matters in the soil is not less than 1,2 %.

5. Link with the geographical area:

5.1. Specificity of the geographical area:

There are mainly two types of landform in the origin place where Jinxing garlic grow, including slightly-slanting land and gradually slopped land, also few lowlands can be found in the area. The soil of the area is fluvo-aquic soil which is a part of alluvial plain of Yellow River. Jinxiang County enjoys a good environment for agricultural production and the quality of air, soil and water are in compliance with the standard of NY/T744-2003, the production requirement of non-environmental pollution food.

5.2. Specificity of the product:

The bulb of Jinxiang Da Suan is big, which is 5-7 cm in diameters, 40-80 g in weight and has 8-11 cloves in outer layer. The garlic with regular oblate shape is bright white and tastes mild hot, in which the cellulose is no more than 0,7 %, the total sulfur is not less than 0,9 % and the water content is not less than 60 %.

5.3. Causal link between the geographical area and a specific quality, the reputation or other characteristic of the product:

5.3.1. Soil condition

The primary type of arable land of Jinxiang county is fluvo-aquic soil. The texture of the topsoil is light loam and medium loam, which is characterized by loose soil, good permeability, excellent holding capacity for water and compost, and high content of organic matters. With above-mentioned features, the land is suitable for growing crops with shallow root system including garlic, which can well-develop and come into regular shape in such soil.

5.3.2. Climate characteristics

Jinxiang County is located in the temperate zone with a semi-humid and semi-arid continental monsoon climate and is characterized by distinctive four seasons and sufficient sunshine, where the winter is dry and cold, the summer is hot and rainy, the autumn is clear and chilly and the spring is windy. It is critical growing period of garlic from March to May when the change of diurnal temperature can be 11-15°. Especially in May, the average temperature is above 20°, the average daytime is 8,4 hours and the sunshine rate is over 60 %, furthermore, the sunshine radiation can reach 14,88 kcal/cm2 on the average in peak time.

From December 10th to February 10th of the following year, the average temperature is about 0,4° and the minimum temperature is above – 7°, as is conducive for garlic to live through the winter safely. Furthermore, longer vernalization time is favourable to form more cloves in the garlic.

5.3.3. Human Factor

It has been a long history since Jinxiang County grew garlic. It is recorded in the county annals that the Jinxiang White Garlic has been planted since the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty which is 2000 years ago. The garlic planting area was about 200 hectares at the beginning of the last century, 330 to 700 hectares at the middle of last century and 40 000 hectares in this century.

Based on the rich experiences of garlic planting, air-drying and processing accumulated year after year, an advanced concept of garlic planting has been created, which requires the selection of top quality seed bulbs, shallow sowing, manuring soil before planting, watering frequently and harvesting early considering the weather. In order to maintain the garlic the original bright white colour, bamboo tray is used to dry it, which can ensure the garlic to be dried completely and evenly. Furthermore, arc-shaped knife has been invented to improve the garlic quality in processing.

5.3.4. Product reputation

Jinxiang Da Suan won the silver medal at the first China Agricultural Expo in 1992, which is the highest award for Chinese White Garlic up to now, and obtained the grade ‘A’ certificate for green food issued by Ministry of Agricultural in October 1996. The garlic production base of 20 000 hectares in Jinxiang County was entitled by Ministry of Agricultural as ‘National Standard Production Base for origns of green food’ and the Jinxiang Garlic Trading Market was named as ‘Central Wholesale Market of Fresh Agricultural Products designated by Ministry of Agricultural’ in 2006. Twenty Import and Export Corporations in the County have obtained the Europe/Globe GAP certification for their garlic production base of 700 hectares. The annual garlic output of 40 000 hectares, which is 700 000 tons, made up about one-fourth of total output of the garlic in China.

Reference to publication of the specification:

—

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