EN Official Journal of the European Union C 60/13

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

(2016/C 60/08)

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

‘ZAGORSKI PURAN’

EU No: HR-PGI-0005-01234 — 27.5.2014

PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

1. Description

‘Zagorski puran’

2. Member State or Third Country

Croatia

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Product type

Class 1.1. Fresh meat (and offal)

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

‘Zagorski puran’ is a product obtained through the slaughter, at the age of six to eight months, of birds of the indigenous Croatian Zagorje breed of turkey reared using free-range methods (grazing) outdoors.

‘Zagorski puran’ is placed on the market fresh or frozen as a dressed carcase with neck and offal, or as a dressed half-carcase. Offal is understood to comprise the liver and dressed stomach, which are placed on the market alongside the dressed carcase, whereas the heart, kidneys and respiratory organs remain within the dressed carcase. ‘Zagorski puran’ is slaughtered in the period from 1 October to 30 April.

The turkey has been registered as a species in the FAOSTAT database (http://faostat3.fao.org/home), whereas ‘Zagorski puran’ as a breed has been registered in the central FAO databases DAD-IS (http://dad.fao.org/) and FABIS (http://efabis.tzv.fal.de/).

The characteristics of the product are as follows:

— for females (hen birds), the dressed carcase is anywhere up to 3,5 kg in weight, whereas for males it may be up to 5,5 kg;

— dressed carcases placed on the market must have no visible external damage;

— dressed carcases must not have any residual feathers;

— the colour of the skin of dressed carcases must be uniform, from pale to light yellow in colour;

— the colour of the meat of dressed carcases is whitish pink, grading into dark pink on the drumsticks;

— the layer of fat visible on the neck and abdominal opening of the carcase is yellow in colour;

— the natural form of the sternum stands out on the carcase and appears as a ‘bulge’ at the anterior end of the carcase.

— the bulge is more pronounced in the male than in the female bird;

— the skin is firm and hard to the touch. The legs lie tightly against the body.

The meat of ‘Zagorski puran’ is only eaten cooked. The meat is exceptionally juicy because of the high proportion of fat in the muscles and its tender and chewy consistency. It has the mild and pleasant aroma and taste characteristic of cooked meat, without any undesirable foreign impurities. The meat of the cooked turkey breast is white, whereas the meat on the forequarters is brown in colour.

There are four varieties of Zagorje turkeys that live in Hrvatsko Zagorje and are used to produce ‘Zagorski puran’: these are the bronze-feathered, black-feathered, grey-feathered and light-feathered varieties.

DNA analyses have confirmed that the ovalbumin gene of all varieties of Zagorje turkey has remained identical over the years, with negative environmental impacts having a minor effect on their phenotypical features. Similarly, measurements and comparisons have shown that no differences exist between the musculo-skeletal structure and quality of meat of the different varieties of ‘Zagorski puran’.

3.3. Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

The feeding of Zagorje turkeys takes place in two phases over the farming year. In the first phase until the chicks are eight weeks old, a traditional diet and/or compound feed may be used. The traditional diet most often comprises a mixture of boiled eggs, cottage cheese, milk, maize groats and green plants (nettles, lucerne, etc.).

In the later phase of farming, up until the chicks are 32 weeks old, their diet is based on grazing on pasture plus a supplement of maize and/or compound feed.

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

Birds of the indigenous ‘Zagorski puran’ breed of turkey intended for slaughter and placed on the market under the name ‘Zagorski puran’ must be housed, reared and fed in the defined geographical area referred to under point 4.

Production phases:

breeding and rearing of chicks

housing of Zagorje turkeys

feeding of Zagorje turkeys

3.5. Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product the registered name refers to

—

3.6. Specific rules concerning labelling of the product the registered name refers to

On the packaging, along with the words ‘Zagorski puran’, it is important to clearly display the content of the packaged product. The words ‘meso purana’ (‘meat of the male turkey’) are included in a separate line on the packaging of the whole carcase of the male turkey, whereas the words ‘meso purice’ (‘meat of the female turkey’) are displayed in a separate line on the packaging of the whole carcase of the hen bird (female). In the case of a packaged half-carcase, the words ‘polovica’ (‘half-carcase’) and ‘sa iznutricama’ (‘with offal’) or ‘bez iznutrica’ (‘without offal’) are added to the words ‘meso purana’ or ‘meso purice’.

No other words may be added next to the words ‘Zagorski puran’ on the labelling, such as: ‘domaći’ (‘local’), ‘tradicionalni’ (‘traditional’), ‘pravi’ (‘genuine’), ‘autohtoni’ (‘indigenous’), ‘izvorni’ (‘original’), etc.

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The area of Hrvatsko Zagorje includes the whole territory of Krapina-Zagorje County, the whole territory of Varaždin County and the edges of Zagreb County that border on Krapina-Zagorje and Varaždin Counties, specifically the municipalities of: Brdovec, Marija Gorica, Pušća, Dubravica, Luka, Jakovlje, Bistra and Bedenica.

5. Link with the geographical area

‘Zagorski puran’ is a product which relies on the reputation it has acquired for the quality of its meat. A number of accounts referring to the reputation of ‘Zagorski puran’ have been preserved, especially with regard to its export. These accounts demonstrate the connection between the name of the product (the quality of its meat depends on the free-range methods used to rear the turkeys outdoors) and the geographical area of production, Hrvatsko Zagorje.

In geographical terms, Hrvatsko Zagorje is a richly forested, undulating and rolling valley with hillocks. In climatic terms, it has a continental humid climate with moderately hot summers and cold, rainy winters. Because of its predominantly hilly terrain, the area has not been suitable for the intensive cultivation of arable crops and intensive livestock farming. It has instead been conducive to rearing Zagorje turkeys. Of the cereal crops, maize is most commonly cultivated and is used as feed for Zagorje turkeys. Due to overcrowding in populated areas and a paucity of available arable land, agricultural holdings in Hrvatsko Zagorje have traditionally been and remain generally small.

On the small agricultural holdings, Zagorje turkeys are reared in the traditional way, using free-range methods. The traditional method of rearing the birds relies on Zagorje turkeys spending the majority of their life in the open air. They move about freely in meadows, orchards and groves where, apart from pasture, they also feed on insects, grasshoppers and earthworms, which provide them with an additional source of protein.

The continental climatic conditions present in Hrvatsko Zagorje, characterised by clearly defined seasons, also suit the life rhythms of Zagorje turkeys, as evidenced by the phases of the year-round rearing cycle. In spring and summer, the warmer part of the year, conditions are favourable for breeding and the hatching of chicks. This is followed by the ‘warm phase’ of rearing, during which the young turkeys are kept indoors. This phase lasts until the turkeys are about eight weeks old. During this phase, only the breeders themselves feed the birds. While the birds are being reared indoors and near the end of the ‘warm phase’, warty outgrowths (caruncles or ‘bobice’) appear on the head and throat of young birds, which is a sign that the birds are becoming resistant to disease. The breeders recognise this period on the basis of their experience of rearing the birds and the age of the birds, because after around eight weeks of age, the age of the birds is no longer determined in weeks and months but rather by the changes to their appearance. After the appearance of the caruncles, the birds are put into an open enclosure, so that they can move around freely to feed themselves. This marks the beginning of the ‘cold phase’ of rearing, when the birds take care of themselves, uninfluenced by the breeder.

The end of the rearing season coincides with the approach of holidays at the end of one calendar year and the beginning of the next (Christmas and New Year), when virtually all full-grown turkeys, except for breeding flocks, are slaughtered in abattoirs and placed on the market as dressed whole or half carcases. This traditional approach to rearing the birds, involving a full yearly cycle, has been maintained to the present day.

Zagorje turkeys have been reared in Hrvatsko Zagorje since the second half of the sixteenth century. According to the records of the Venetian municipal authorities, quoted by Georg Kodinetz, Professor at the Animal Husbandry Institute under the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Zagreb, the first Zagorje turkeys were brought into Hrvatsko Zagorje from Italy and the first roast turkey was served at the table of the Pavlins of Lepoglava on the Feast of the Assumption in 1561, after which they started to be reared in the area.

The boom in the production of ‘Zagorski puran’ is closely related to its export. Export of the birds began at the end of the 19th century and reached its greatest intensity in the 1930s.

The free-range method of rearing Zagorje turkeys means that they grow relatively slowly, i.e. it takes at least six months to get them ready for slaughter, in contrast to hybrid turkeys, which are ready for slaughter after as few as three months of fattening. (Kerep’s university thesis, Regresijske analize u opisivanju rasta pura, 2014).

Because the turkeys graze outdoors, the skin of the dressed carcase of ‘Zagorski puran’ is pale to bright yellow in colour, and the subcutaneous layers of fat of ‘Zagorski puran’ are clearly visible and yellow in colour, whereas the dressed carcase of the hybrid ‘Nicholas’ breed has pale to light-coloured skin without pigmentation, with little or no such fat. Analyses have found that the meat on the sternum of ‘Zagorski puran’ has a fat content of 10,32 %, whereas this is 6,91 % for commercial hybrid breeds (Analytical report, Euroinspekt Croatiakontrola, 2014).

Precisely because the turkeys graze outdoors and grow at a natural pace, ‘Zagorski puran’ has a robust constitution and contains a relatively large amount of yellowish fatty tissue. Owing to its more pronounced fat content, it has a greater amount of intramuscular fat, so cooked ‘Zagorski puran’ has a pronouncedly juicier and softer, more chewy consistency than that of hybrid breeds of turkey (Analytical report, Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, 2015).

In his dissertation, Zlatko Janječić cites the scientific work of R. Latinović (1987), who classified turkey meat into four categories: I (breast meat), II (drumsticks), III (wings) and IV (back). According to this classification and on the basis of his own research, Zlatko Janječić determined that most of the meat of ‘Zagorski puran’ falls within the second, third and fourth categories, whereas the largest proportion of meat of ‘Nicholas’ and ‘Jonson’ breeds falls mainly within the first category. On average, breast meat comprises 31,52 % of the carcase of ‘Zagorski puran’, whereas the respective value for the ‘Nicholas’ hybrid is 37,58 %. Although meat of the first category (breast) is the most highly valued, given that ‘Zagorski puran’ is traditionally prepared whole as a roast irrespective of the size of the carcase, cutting and categorising have had no commercial importance as far as ‘Zagorski puran’ is concerned. By contrast, hybrid turkeys are selected for commercial industrial production, with emphasis being placed on carcase size. (Dissertation by Zlatko Janječić (2002), Fenotipske i genotipske odlike Zagorskih purana (Phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of ‘Zagorski puran’)).

The product name ‘Zagorski puran’ was first mentioned in the literature at the beginning of the 20th century. Although the Zagorje turkey was recorded in the FAO variety register as a recognised breed in 2000, ‘Zagorski puran’ has traditionally been used in common language and is still used even today (Documents held by Zadruga PZ Puran zagorskih brega, Krapina, 2004-2014). ‘Zagorski puran’ is the name most frequently used when referring to turkey dishes in recipe brochures and specialised journals (Gastroturizam brochure, 2011, and the journal Meso, No 6, 2009).

‘Zagorski puran’ has always been recognised as a speciality on the market, with meat of singular quality, and as linked to the area of Hrvatsko Zagorje and a free-range method of rearing the bird outdoors. References to the appearance and quality of ‘Zagorski puran’ are supported by the following quotations:

Writing about exports, Georg Kodinetz states: ‘According to exporters, the best quality goods are “Zagorski puran” turkeys and turkey hens from the Hrvatsko Zagorje area’ (Kodinetz, Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Rasse und der Entwicklung des Zagorianer Truthuhnes (Meleagris gallopavo) in C. Kronacher, Zeitschrift für Tierzüchtung and Züchtungsbiologie, Berlin, 1940).

According to the Slovenian newspapers Slovenec and Domoljub: ‘In Croatia there is a singular speciality known as “Zagorski puran” which is well-known on all markets of the world. It was exported to the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belgium and even to France which, despite having its own excellent turkeys and not wanting for turkey meat, nevertheless holds the quality of the Croatian turkey in high esteem’ (Slovenec, ‘Gospodarstvo’, 1941; Domoljub, ‘Kaj je novega?’, 1941).

The renown of ‘Zagorski puran’ and the link between the product and its geographical area of production is also demonstrated by the results of a questionnaire conducted in 2010. Asked to highlight the statement best corresponding to ‘Zagorski puran’, most consumers (90 %) replied that for them it is associated with healthy and high-quality meat. In reply to the question about which region of Croatia consumers associated with turkeys, 61 % of respondents replied ‘Hrvatsko Zagorje’. As to whether the consumers had heard of ‘Zagorski puran’, 87 % responded in the affirmative (Anketa Valicon, Žnidar et al., 2011).

Reference to publication of the product specification

(Article 6(1) second subparagraph of this Regulation)

http://www.mps.hr/UserDocsImages/HRANA/PURANI/Izmijenjena%20Specifikacija%20proizvoda%20ZAGORSKI%20PURAN.pdf

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