EN Official Journal of the European Union C 247/12

Application for approval of a minor amendment made public in accordance with the fifth subparagraph of Article 6(2) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 664/2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the establishment of the Union symbols for protected designations of origin, protected geographical indications and traditional specialities guaranteed and with regard to certain rules on sourcing, certain procedural rules and certain additional transitional rules

(2017/C 247/08)

The European Commission has approved this minor amendment in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 6(2) of that Regulation (1).

APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF A MINOR AMENDMENT

Application for approval of a minor amendment in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2)

‘QUESO DE LA SERENA’

EU No: PDO-ES-2152 — 14.7.2016

PDO ( X ) PGI ( ) TSG ( )

1. Applicant group and legitimate interest

Regulatory Council for the Protected Designation of Origin ‘Queso de la Serena’ Ctra. EX-104, s/n (Ints. Ferial de La Serena) 06420 Castuera (Badajoz) ESPAÑA Tel. +34 924772114 Email: info@quesoserena.com

The Regulatory Council was recognised by the Order of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of 14 April 1993 ratifying the Regulation on the Designation of Origin ‘Queso de la Serena’ and its regulatory council (Official State Gazette No 100 of 27.4.1993). For the purposes of Article 6(2) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 664/2014, it is therefore the same group that originally submitted the application to register the name to which the specification refers. Law 4/2010 of 28 April 2010 on regulatory councils for denominations of origin and geographical indications of agri-food quality in Extremadura now defines regulatory councils as PDO/PGI management bodies which have their own legal personality, financial autonomy and full powers to take action in pursuit of their ends. They operate on democratic principles and represent the economic and sectoral interests involved in the PDO/PGI, with special concern for minority interests, given that they must represent all of the various interests at stake equally, while maintaining a non-profit motive as their basic principle. Its functions, as laid down in Article 16(2)(g) of Law 4/2010, include ‘proposing amendments to the specification and taking part in any proceedings instituted for that purpose’.

This application for a minor amendment to the product specification has been agreed by the Regulatory Council for the Protected Designation of Origin ‘Queso de la Serena’ in accordance with its allotted role, and its interest is therefore entirely legitimate.

2. Member State or Third Country

Spain

3. Heading in the product specification affected by the amendment

— ☒ Product description — ☐ Proof of origin — ☐ Method of production — ☐ Link — ☐ Labelling — ☒ Other: Inspection body and national legal requirements

4. Type of amendment(s)

— ☐ Amendment to product specification of a registered PDO or PGI to be qualified as minor in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 and requiring no amendment to the published single document. — ☐ Amendment to product specification of a registered PDO or PGI to be qualified as minor in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 and requiring an amendment to the published single document. — ☒ Amendment to the product specification of a registered PDO or PGI to be qualified as minor in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, for which a single document (or equivalent) has not been published. — ☐ Amendment to the product specification of a registered TSG to be qualified as minor in accordance with the fourth subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

5. Amendment(s)

5.1. The following paragraph in section ‘B (Description of product)’ of the specification has been amended as regards ‘the physical characteristics of the cheese after ageing’: — ‘Diameter: 18-24 cm’ has been replaced by ‘Diameter: 10-24 cm’. The proposed amendment has no effect whatsoever on the characteristics of the milk or the characteristics of the animals that produce it. Nor have the physico-chemical characteristics of the product itself changed (they remain unchanged, with the same thresholds as in the original specification), and as regards the physical characteristics of the cheese, its ‘shape’, ‘height’, ‘weight’, ‘rind’, ‘paste’ and ‘aroma and flavour’ also remain exactly the same. The only proposed change is to the lower threshold of the diameter range. It should be taken into account that, when the original specification was drawn up (more than 20 years ago), cheeses with a weight at the lower end of the range permitted in the specification (750-2 000 g) were uncommon. At the time, there was therefore little technical knowledge of the diameters that the smallest cheeses might have, and this was combined with the fact that, in a traditional production system such as this, it is difficult to be exact about certain measurements. In any case, the diameter of the cheese is not critical when it comes to defining the size of the product, unlike its weight. In this respect, in the original application file for ‘Queso de la Serena’, both the Summary and the Consolidated Version included only the following text under the heading relating to the product description: ‘Full-fat to extra full-fat cheese; matured, from soft to half-cured; wheel-shaped with flat faces and convex side; firm rind and soft to firm paste; weight 750 g to 2 kg’. Consequently, none of the elements included in the Summary or the Consolidated Version have changed and, ultimately, none of the essential characteristics of the product are affected. The requirement laid down in respect of minor amendments by Article 53(2)(a) of 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 has therefore been met.

5.2. Having regard to Article 7(1)(g) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the whole of section ‘G (Inspection Body)’ of the specification has been replaced by the details of the current inspection body responsible for verifying compliance with the specification on the basis of Article 37(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. It is therefore simply a matter of updating this section to give the details of the product certification body to which the competent authority has delegated the task of verifying compliance with the specification for PDO ‘Queso de la Serena’, as provided for in Article 39 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 and Article 59 and Chapter III of Title III of Law 6/2015 of 24 March 2015 on agriculture in Extremadura. With the proposed amendment, Section G of the specification reads as follows: ‘Name: AGROCOLOR, S.L. Address: Ctra. de Ronda, n.o 11, Bajo. 04004 Almería (Spain). Tel. +34 950280380 Email: agrocolor@agrocolor.es’

5.3. Article 7(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 also makes it unnecessary to include Section ‘I (National legal requirements)’, so the whole section has been deleted from the specification.

6. Updated product specification (only for PDO and PGI)

http://www.gobex.es/filescms/con03/uploaded_files/SectoresTematicos/Agroalimentario/Denominacionesdeorigen/DOP_Queso_Serena_Pliego_Condiciones.pdf

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘QUESO DE LA SERENA’

EU No: PDO-ES-02152 — 14.7.2016

PDO ( X ) PGI ( )

1. Name

‘Queso de la Serena’

2. Member State or Third Country

Spain

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.3. Cheeses

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

‘Queso de la Serena’ is a soft to semi-hard cheese made from merino sheep’s milk. It is a full-fat to extra full-fat cheese, matured, shaped like a wheel, with flat faces and convex sides, a firm rind and a soft to firm paste. It weighs between 750 g and 2 kg, is between 4 cm and 8 cm in height and has a diameter of between 10 cm and 24 cm.

Its physico-chemical characteristics are as follows:

— Fat: at least 50 % of the dry matter.

— Dry matter: at least 50 %.

— pH: between 5,2 and 5,9.

— Total protein in dry matter: at least 35 %.

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

In the geographical area, pastures are not abundant but are of high quality, which gives the milk produced distinctive characteristics. At certain times of the year, the sheep leave the holding to graze on the stubble of cereal crops and sometimes the residues of irrigated crops. The applicable rules provide for the use of feed, where this is necessary, including specific rules on the sourcing of feed and raw materials for products with a protected designation of origin.

The milk used to produce ‘Queso de la Serena’ comes from merino sheep farms located within the production area. The milk must be obtained from healthy ewes and must be natural whole milk that is clean and free from impurities, colostrum and medicinal preservatives that might have a detrimental effect on the production, maturing and conservation of the cheese or on its hygiene and sanitary conditions.

The analytical characteristics of the milk are as follows:

— Protein: at least 5 %,

— Fat: at least 7 %,

— Total dry extract: at least 18 %.

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

The stages of production that must take place within the geographical area defined in point 4 are as follows:

— Production of the milk, with the characteristics and conditions specified in point 3.3, including milking, cooling, storage, collection and transportation of the milk.

— Production of the cheese, including the coagulation of the milk, which takes place at a temperature of between 25 °C and 32 °C and takes between 50 and 75 minutes (using a natural vegetable coagulant obtained from dried Cynara Cardunculus flowers), cutting, moulding, salting and maturing.

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

—

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

The commercial labels of each registered company must be approved by the Regulatory Council for the PDO. Labels must bear the following wording: Denominación de Origen ‘Queso de La Serena’.

The marketed product must bear a numbered secondary label issued by the Regulatory Council for the PDO and affixed in the cheese-making plant in such a way that it cannot be reused.

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The area in which ‘Queso de la Serena’ is made, matured and produced comprises the following 21 municipalities in the extreme south-east of the province of Badajoz: La Haba, Magacela, La Coronada, Campanario, Esparragosa de Lares, Valle de la Serena, Zalamea de la Serena, Higuera de la Serena, Quintana de la Serena, Malpartida de la Serena, Esparragosa de la Serena, Castuera, Cabeza del Buey, Santi-Spiritus, Risco, Garlitos, Peñalsordo, Zarzacapilla, Capilla, Monterrubio de la Serena and Benquerencia de la Serena.

5. Link with the geographical area

5.1. Historical

References to ‘Queso de la Serena’ can be found in a number of literary works:

Antonio Agúndez Fernández’s 1791 book Viaje a La Serena, which is about the district of La Serena and is taken from some manuscripts by the magistrate Agustín Cubeles, includes the following reference: ‘Famous for its flavour and good workmanship is its sheep’s milk cheese, an arroba of which is sold for 60 reales.’

The 16th and 17th century bye-laws of Cabeza del Buey contain references to tithing the cheese and the first fruits to be given to the parish church, as the farmer had to give all the cheeses made from the first batch milked for cheese-making to the parish priests of the town.

5.2. Natural

(a) Relief

In the Province of Badajoz, gently undulating terrain predominates, and, broadly speaking, the area is a peneplain. It is an area of high quality pasturelands — on skeletal shale and granite soils, covering around 300 000 ha — on which the merino sheep feed; in fact, this herbaceous pasture is the main energy source for the ecosystem of this region and is made up of diverse flora (see section on flora). The average altitude is 430 m.

(b) Soil

In terms of its geological structure, the province of Badajoz is a Paleozoic peneplain with some later deposits and a large number of igneous outcrops.

There are shallow, moderately permeable cambric, silurian and granitic soils, through which the bedrock frequently crops out. The gradient is shallow, the topography gently undulating and the orientation south-facing. The soils are generally skeletal shale and granite, acidic, with a pH of 5 to 5,5 and low levels of phosphorus. Tree coverage is low, or non-existent in parts, which gives the region a deforested appearance.

(c) Climate

The district of La Serena has a Mediterranean climate influenced by the Atlantic, with hot dry summers and mild and rainy winters. In this area, the winters are generally mild, although there is a period of frosts between 1 November and 10 March. The summers are hot and dry, and the main feature of the area is its aridity. Average annual rainfall is 498 mm.

(d) Hydrography

The Guadiana Menor and Zújar rivers flow through the district of La Serena.

(e) Flora

The plant species of the area include:

— Vulpia ciliata, Bromus mollis and Agrostis spp. from the Gramineae family;

— Trifolium (T. arvense, T. campestre and T. glomeratum);

— Ornithopus compressus from the Leguminosae family; Helianthemum, Erodium, Plantago, Carlina and Hypochaeris.

5.3. Production and processing systems

(a) Production

The merino breed of sheep is very hardy and is well suited to the harsh climate and terrain. Its primary characteristic is its wool production, but it nevertheless also has meat and milk producing qualities which make it profitable enough if the difficult habitat in which it lives is taken into account. The quantity of milk it produces is small, but high in protein and fat.

It is a small sheep, the females weighing between 40 kg and 45 kg and the males between 55 kg and 65 kg. Its long legs are well suited to travelling long distances in search of food (although the sheep now leave the farms only at certain times of the year, in the past they used to go on an annual migration). The breed has an 85 % fecundity rate and an 80 % fertility rate. It usually lambs once a year, although it will tend to lamb three times over 2 years.

(b) Processing

The cheese is obtained by means of enzymatic coagulation of the milk using a vegetable coagulant (Cynara cardunculus), usually at a temperature of below 30 °C.

As a result of these two factors, i.e. the moderate temperature and the use of a coagulant with a low coagulation capacity, a long coagulation time is needed and the curds are quite soft. Consequently, proteolytic activity is higher, producing a cheese with a less consistent texture.

Twenty days after moulding, the cheeses usually undergo a phenomenon known as ‘atortado’, during which the paste becomes fluid and the cheeses have to be handled with care to prevent the rind breaking and running into the paste.

5.4. Causal link between the geographical area and the quality and characteristics of the product.

Firstly, the pastures in the district of La Serena extend over 300 000 ha almost entirely bereft of trees and thus grow without competition from any plants. This means the pastures obtain all of the nutrients in the soil and, consequently, have high nutritional values, making them ideal for livestock feed. Secondly, the Merino sheep, which are best adapted to the extreme climate and relief of La Serena, produce a small quantity of milk, but one which is rich in fat and protein.

This centuries-old and irreplaceable combination makes milk from the Merino sheep grazed on La Serena pastures ideal for the production of ‘Queso de la Serena’, giving it its special and genuine characteristics.

Reference to publication of the specification

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

http://www.gobex.es/filescms/con03/uploaded_files/SectoresTematicos/Agroalimentario/Denominacionesdeorigen/DOP_Queso_Serena_Pliego_Condiciones.pdf

(1) OJ L 179, 19.6.2014, p. 17.

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