EN Official Journal of the European Union C 270/4

Publication of an amendment 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

2014/C 270/04

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).

AMENDMENT APPLICATION

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

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

AMENDMENT APPLICATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 9

‘HALBERSTÄDTER WÜRSTCHEN’

EC No: DE-PGI-0105-01195 — 07.02.2014

PGI ( X ) PDO ( )

1. Sections of the specification affected by the amendments

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2. Type of amendments

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3. Amendments:

Amendments requested:

(b) Description of product:

1. In the first sentence, the addition in brackets ‘(sheep's casing)’ after ‘... in tender natural skin’ is supplemented as follows: ‘(sheep's casing, pig's casing)’. In the description of the ‘Composition of the sausages’, the addition in brackets ‘(sheep's casing)’ after ‘natural skin’ is supplemented as follows: ‘(sheep's casing, pig's casing)’.

2. The thickness, length and weight measurements are amended as follows: Thickness : 17-32 mm instead of 20-24 mm Length : 4-22 cm instead of 12-18 cm Weight : 10-120 g instead of 50-90 g Explanation: The basis for expanding the product range of ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ as regards the sausages' thickness, length and weight lies in consumers' eating habits, which have changed over recent years. The annexes to the application prove that the precursor products of ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’, the ‘Heines Würstchen’, were already produced in the 1920s with corresponding measurements and weights. The characteristic product features, namely the dark smoked colour and the unmistakable, intensive smoky taste and beechwood aroma, which result from smoking in a chimney smoking installation with an underfloor smouldering furnace, are also exhibited by the sausages with the altered measurements and weights. Sausages which are more than 27 mm thick cannot be produced in the thin sheep's casing. Tender pig's casings are used for sausages of this thickness.

(e) Method of production:

In the second sentence, the term ‘casings’ is replaced by ‘natural skins’.

Explanation:

The term ‘casings’ covers only sheep's casings but not pig's casings, and must therefore be replaced by ‘natural skins’.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs (3)

‘HALBERSTÄDTER WÜRSTCHEN’

EC No: DE-PGI-0105-01195 — 07.02.2014

PGI ( X ) PDO ( )

1. Name

‘Halberstädter Würstchen’

2. Member State or Third Country

Germany

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.2 Meat products (cooked, salted, smoked, etc.)

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

‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ is a long, thin boiling sausage in tender natural skin (sheep's casing, pig's casing), sold only as a preserved product.

Characteristic features are the dark smoked colour and the unmistakable, intensive smoky taste and beechwood aroma. These are obtained by smoking the sausage in several stages in a chimney smoking installation with an underfloor smouldering furnace, whilst changing the humidity of the air and the density of the smoke with brief temperature peaks of up to 110 °C. Controlling the smoulder smoke temperatures produces colours and aromas which are the key to the taste and dark colour of the ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’.

— Thickness: 17-32 mm

— Length: 4-22 cm

— Weight: 10-120 g

Composition of the sausages:

— Pigmeat: about 45%

— Beef and veal: about 15 %

— Pig fat: about 15 %

— Natural skin (sheep's casing, pig's casing): about 1,5 %

— Drinking water: about 18 %

— Nitrite curing salt: about 2 %

— Spices (particularly white pepper and flower of nutmeg): about 1,5 %

— Additives: about 2 %

— Fat content: 20 % (± 5 %)

— Meat protein free of connective-tissue protein: at least 7,5 %.

3.3. Raw materials (for processed products only)

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3.4. Feed (for products of animal origin only)

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

All the production stages, including pre-conditioning, drying, smoking, boiling, maturing and preservation must take place in the defined geographical area.

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

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3.7. Specific rules concerning labelling

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4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The area of the town of Halberstadt.

5. Link with the geographical area

5.1. Specificity of the geographical area

Production of ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ takes place in the defined geographical area of the town of Halberstadt. The products have a 100 year-old tradition and their good reputation was established by the company Friedrich Heine and its successors, which produced only in the area of the town of Halberstadt.

The special smoking process in a chimney smoking installation with an underfloor smouldering furnace, as used in the defined area, is the prerequisite for the product characteristics of ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’, which have been produced using the traditional method for more than 100 years.

The chimney smoking installation is made of masonry firebricks, which are particularly important for the thermal requirements of the installation. The firebricks also have the important attribute of absorbing the negative constituents of the smoke from the inner wall of the chimney smoking installation, thereby preventing those constituents from reaching the sausages to be smoked and enabling only the taste-forming substances to develop on the inside and outside of the sausages.

Hot smoking lasts for 40 to 50 minutes at average smoking temperatures of 60 to 75 °C. Direct firing of the chimney allows the temperature in the smoking chamber of the chimney smoking installation to be regulated so that alternating brief temperature peaks above 110 °C occur and a continual reduction in humidity takes place in accordance with the changes in temperature. The production and transmission of smoke takes place in a single area and a carbonising process occurs.

A mixture of beechwood chippings and sawdust at a ratio of 70 to 30 percent mass with 52 % humidity is used to produce the smoke. This is essential for controlling the smoking process according to temperature so as to ensure that sufficient quantities of all the necessary desirable smoke constituents are produced and precipitate on the surface of the skin. Controlling the smoulder smoke temperatures produces colours and aromas which are the key to the taste and dark colour of ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’.

The direct smoking process takes place in several stages which are characterised by different smoking times and different temperatures for the chimney smoke, and temperature ranges and temperature peaks of 75 to 80 °C, 85 to 90 °C, 95 to 100 °C and above 110 °C are reached.

The smoking expert's craft skills ensure that various temperatures are produced during the smoking process and that these temperature ranges are maintained for set periods of time. The temperatures and various temperature ranges are obtained by creating smouldering nests in the hearth of the chimney smoking installation. This is where the smoking expert uses his craft skills to control both the firing process and the process of achieving the smoking temperatures by creating smouldering nests or tearing them open in order to obtain the desired temperature ranges. These operations form the basis for the development of an underfloor smouldering furnace, which is an essential prerequisite for the gentle smoking process used to make the products. This process is also based on the manually controlled temperatures during smoking, as during the smoking process there are changes in, and a continual reduction of, the humidity of the air and density of the chimney smoke, which are essential for the products' development.

5.2. Specificity of the product

‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ are characterised in particular by their unmistakable, intensive smoky taste and dark colour, which distinguish them from comparable products made elsewhere.

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 specific product characteristics described under (2) are the result of the special traditional smoking process carried out in the chimney smoking installation described under (1).

The chimney fumes are unique and the smoking processes carried out in them are fundamentally different from smoking processes in modern hot-smoking installations.

The reduction in the relative humidity of the air to < 25 % and the products' frying stability are the reason why the sausages to be treated withstand the extremely high heat stresses without being damaged.

During the damp phases the constituents of the smoke are basically absorbed, whilst during the dry, hot phases in particular the various substances contained in the smoke react with each other and with the constituents of the natural skin and of the filling inside it.

The traditional, typical seasoning and special treatment of the products give them their unmistakable taste and special appearance. In addition to the traditional recipes and seasonings used, the traditional smoking process provides the basis for the unmistakable taste of ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ and the temperature control used when producing the chimney smoke, which is achieved by the smoking expert using his craft skills, is the main prerequisite for giving the product its typical taste and the sausage casing its special external colour.

The special reputation of ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ is based on a tradition of sausage production in Halberstadt which dates back over 100 years.

‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ were produced for the first time on 23 November 1883 by the Halberstadt master butcher Friedrich Heine. A year later he opened a factory in Halberstadt. In 1896 Friedrich Heine gained public recognition for his products at a display of cooking skills and in the same year the sausages were preserved in tins for the first time and presented as a worldwide innovation at the cookery exhibition in Wiesbaden. In 1913 Friedrich Heine set up a new company in Halberstadt which at that time was the most modern and largest sausage factory in Europe.

By the beginning of the last century virtually all railway station restaurants had ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ on their menus. The same was true of the Mitropa dining cars of Reichsbahn trains, which also offered preserved ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’. Today ‘Halberstädter Würstchen’ are still made at traditional production facilities in Halberstadt, at a rate of several tonnes per day.

Reference to publication of the specification

(Article 5(7) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 (4))

https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/geo/detail.pdfdownload/40682

(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.

(4) See footnote 2.