EN Official Journal of the European Union C 303/16

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 303/12

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.

SUMMARY

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

‘KALOCSAI FŰSZERPAPRIKA-ŐRLEMÉNY’

EC No: HU-PDO-0005-0393-21.10.2004

PDO ( X ) PGI ( )

This summary sets out the main elements of the product specification for information purposes.

1. Responsible department in the Member State:

Name: Vidékfejlesztési Minisztérium – Élelmiszer-feldolgozási Főosztály Address: Budapest Kossuth Lajos tér 11. 1055 MAGYARORSZÁG/HUNGARY Tel. +36 13014419 Fax +36 13014808 E-mail: Eniko.Zobor@vm.gov.hu eefo@fvm.gov.hu

2. Group:

Name: Kalocsai Fűszerpaprika-őrlemény védelméért polgári jogi társaság Head Office: Kalocsa Kossuth Lajos u. 15. 6300 MAGYARORSZÁG/HUNGARY Mailing address: Kalocsa Alkotmány u. 49. 6300 MAGYARORSZÁG/HUNGARY Tel. +36 78462555 Fax +36 78462211 E-mail: paprikart@mail.externet.hu Membership: Producers/processors ( X ) Other ( )

3. Type of product:

Group 1.8. Other products of Annex I to the Rome Treaty (spices)

4. Specification:

(Summary of requirements under Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006)

4.1. Name:

‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’

4.2. Description:

‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’ is produced by grinding the dried pods of the pepper plant (Capsicum annuum L. var. Longum DC.) grown from State-recognised varieties of sealed sowing seeds.

The following varieties may be used for producing ‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika őrlemény’: Delikát, Favorit, Folklór, Jubileum, Kaldóm, Kalmár, Kalocsai 50, Kalocsai 801, Kalocsai merevszárú 622, Kalocsai V-2, Kalorez, Kalóz, Remény, Rubinvörös, Szegedi-178, Szegedi 20 and Szegedi 80.

The main characteristics of ‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’:

Organoleptic characteristics:

— physical characteristics: homogeneous, uniform grinding,

— colour: deep silky red,

— aroma: pleasant, spicy aroma, appetising smell, similar to that of caramelised roasted seeds,

— taste: sweet, fruity, reflects harmony of pentatonic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, hot) and non-pungent, its capsaicin content is a characteristic of the variety.

The hot ground paprika increases and intensifies this harmony of taste, smell and aroma. The intensity of heat is determined by the capsaicin content. If the capsaicin content is 30-200 mg/kg, the ground paprika will taste moderately hot; if it is 200-500 mg/kg, it is spicy, and if it exceeds 500 mg/kg, it will taste hot.

Physico-chemical properties:

— particle size, grinding fineness: maximum 0,5 mm,

— analytical characteristics: Total pigment content at the end of the minimum durability term, per dry matter, at least, g/kg 2,6 or ASTA colour value at the end of the minimum durability term, minimum 85 Maximum moisture content, % (m/m) 11,0 Sand content in the dry matter, maximum, % (m/m) 0,5

— ground paprika may not contain food additives. The conditioning process involves the addition of potable water.

4.3. Geographical area:

The cultivation area of the paprika to be used for the production of ‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’ with a protected designation of origin is the Kalocsa paprika production region, which comprises 119 settlements of Bács-Kiskun, 35 of Tolna, 26 of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, four of Fejér and one-one settlement each of Baranya and Csongrád counties. The product description contains the list of settlements.

‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’ must be produced and packed in the geographical area within the administrative boundaries of the settlements specified in the product description.

4.4. Certification of origin:

The entire process of the production of ‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’ is to be carried out in a strict production and control order with a quality management system covering the verification of the documented origin of the seeds and the raw material (pepper pods). The product’s path from the raw material to the ground finished product may thus be identified and traced.

Compliance with the rules is monitored by the regional offices of the Agriculture Administration Office.

4.5. Method of production:

In autumn the soil is spread with manure or, in the absence of this, with fertilisers.

The sealed sowing seed is sown directly in the soil with a temperature of at least 12 °C from the beginning of March to the end of May, or the seedlings grown from March in cold frames of hot beds are planted in the soil from mid-May on.

Before planting or sowing, the soil is thoroughly prepared to accommodate the paprika seedlings or the seeds: the harder layers below the soil surface are broken up, the soil is loosened and the surface is fully levelled.

The mature pods are harvested by machines or manually; then, after identification and quality assessment, they are stored in light of the examination results and are post-ripened under natural conditions.

During the post-ripening period (10-40 days) the produce is to be stored in wooden boxes, containers, sacks or strung up in garlands (separated by lot) in order to increase the pigment content as much as possible and prevent any deterioration and contamination during storage.

After temporary storage and post-ripening, the produce is dried in a gentle manner imitating the conditions of natural drying by indirect dryers or in the open air under natural conditions to a moisture content below 10 %, and it is then identified by labels. The gentleness of drying provides a maximum temperature of 80 °C on the surface. This is the maximum temperature at which the moisture evaporation of paprika still corresponds to natural conditions. The paprika thus preserves the natural taste and aroma, which it retains until it is ground.

After drying the labelled produce is stored in cool, dark quarters that are free from pests.

After temporary storage the dried paprika is ground at a paprika temperature which must remain below 80 °C. During grinding the oil content of the paprika seed covers the surface of the granules, thereby protecting them from adverse decay processes. Millstones, rolling mills, hammer mills and mills operating on the impact principle are suitable for grinding. Grinding requires air input so that the grinding temperature never exceed 80 °C. Ground paprika must be ground with a natural proportion of seeds. At the end of grinding paprika must be conditioned to a minimum moisture content of 8 % and a maximum of 11 % by adding tested natural water.

The ground product may be put on the market after homogenisation, germ reduction, packaging and appropriate marking and labelling.

The above-described post-ripening, grinding and conditioning processes fundamentally determine the quality of the product, which can only be guaranteed by immediate packaging in order to prevent changes in the water content achieved in the conditioning procedure. The complexity of these procedures requires expertise available only in the given geographical area. Therefore, in an effort to ensure not only the origin, but also the quality of the product, every phase in the production of ‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’ — i.e. growing and processing the raw material and packaging — must be undertaken in the geographical area set out in point 4.3.

4.6. Link:

‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’ — a traditional spice — is a plant species that has been recognised in Hungary and Kalocsa for some 500 years, cultivated for over 300 years, traded for 150 years and has been a branded export product for the past 100 years.

In the early decades of the 1700s several settlements in the Kalocsa region were engaged in paprika production. There is also evidence that paprika cultivation was thriving in most of the villages there around the 1800s. The first paprika drying plant was built in 1880.

Paprika developed into a commercial product in the 19th century, when the spice became popular in other, more distant regions as well.

At the turn of the 20th century Hungarian paprika had already become a major trading item. In the system of free trade which flourished then, production, processing, grinding and commerce were not restricted by any State intervention or regulation. The natural market for Hungarian products was the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. By that time the growing area must have been about 4 000-6 000 cadastral acres, because exports came to almost 600 tonnes in 1901.

In 1917, a Chemical and Paprika Experimentation Station (Vegykísérleti és Paprikakísérleti Állomás) was established in Kalocsa. The new institute was successful not only in improving the quality of Kalocsa paprika and in combating increasing counterfeiting practices, but also increased the volume of paprika production thanks to expert breeding efforts and training of farmers. The so-called ‘noble’ paprika of Kalocsa and the sweet (non-hot) varieties were bred on the site of Kalocsa's Experimentation Station.

A ministerial decree (No 83.000/1922., Ministry of Agriculture) was issued in 1922 to regulate the quality categorisation of paprika, and the first Paprika Qualification Code was published. M.E. Basic Decision 1890/1934 designated the region of Kalocsa as a ‘restricted zone’. From that point, paprika production was subject to licensing.

After World War Two, the cultivation of paprika expanded to about 4 000-5 000 hectares of land. After exports resumed and increased rapidly, additional land had to be incorporated into paprika cultivation. Paprika crops covered some 6-7 000 hectares of land in the 1950s. Agricultural cooperatives were established in the 1960s, which then continued production of paprika in the established areas. Ground paprika is produced from paprika varieties with elongated, upright and drooping varieties grown in the Kalocsa area. Thanks to century-old traditions of plant breeding, the varieties that have preserved these genetic features have adapted extremely well to the soil and climate of the region because, in breeding the plants, they used the paprika population containing the original taste, flavour and colour that developed in this region over a century. After grinding, the paprika was spread out for the night in a cool larder, allowing the ground paprika to absorb the right quantity of water from the moisture of the air. The conditioning procedure in modern technology is based on this phase of traditional peasant paprika processing.

In addition to professional experience, the soil and the climate played an important role in the evolution of the Kalocsa paprika producing region.

‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’ is primarily produced in the area between the Danube and the main channel of the Danube basin and spreads over to the flood area of the Tisza river. The area spreads across the central zone of the Danube-Tisza basin production region, mainly on the alluvial soil of the Danube. This is followed by the sand ridge of the Mid-Danube-Tisza and Dunaföldvár and the loess ridge of North-Bácska. The characteristic soil type of the regions in the Mid-Danube-Tisza area is the meadow alluvial soil and its varieties, which — in the direction of the east — is replaced by meadow black soils in the central zone of the small region. The characteristic soils of the region's eastern border have a high salt content. As paprika is mainly sown directly in the ground, it requires a higher temperature for germination, which the soils of the region provide because they warm up quickly. Paprika is also sensitive to the pH value of the soil (sub-alkaline pH of 7,2-8,2 is necessary for proper development) and nutrients are required in a form that can easily be absorbed, therefore medium compact, easily warming, sub-alkaline or neutral soils are suitable for production.

As the alluvial soils established on the loess and sand ridges of the Danube and the Tisza have similar soil characteristics, the raw material production basis — with the Kalocsa varieties and technology — extended towards the Szolnok (Mezőhék) micro region in the 1970s.

In the Kalocsa region the average temperature during the growing season is between 17,5 °C and 18 °C. Although the number of hours of sunshine during the growing season, a factor which significantly determines quality, is up to 1 500 hours, under the climatic conditions of the region the paprika will never ripen here to the same extent as in countries experiencing a lot of sunshine; at harvest time the paprika pods have a residual sugar content. The condensation reaction between part of these sugars and the pod’s protein content, the caramelisation of the sugar caused by the drying and grinding process and the oils in the seeds create the deep colour that characterises ‘Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény’ and the sweet and fruity taste reflects harmony of pentatonic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and hot).

This is also where the likelihood of late spring and early autumn frosts is the lowest, providing the indispensable frostless environment necessary for paprika production.

The Hungarian Patent Office registered the designation of origin on 30 November 1998 (registration number: 26) and, pursuant to the Lisbon Agreement, the Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation entered it on the international register of designations of origin on 6 May 1969 (registration number: 501).

4.7. Inspection body:

Name: Mezőgazdasági Szakigazgatási Hivatal Központ, Élelmiszer- és Takarmánybiztonsági Igazgatóság (Central Agriculture Administration Office, Food and Feed Safety Directorate) Address: Budapest Mester u. 81. 1095 MAGYARORSZÁG/HUNGARY Tel. +36 4563012 E-mail: etbi@mgszh.gov.hu

and the regional offices of the Mezőgazdasági Szakigazgatási Hivatal listed in the product description.

4.8. Labelling:

—

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