EN Official Journal of the European Union C 281/12

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

(2015/C 281/09)

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).

APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF AN AMENDMENT TO THE PRODUCT SPECIFICATION OF PROTECTED DESIGNATIONS OF ORIGIN/PROTECTED GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS WHICH IS NOT MINOR

Application for approval of an amendment in accordance with the first subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012

‘EICHSFELDER FELDGIEKER’/‘EICHSFELDER FELDKIEKER’

EU No: DE-PGI-0105-01281 – 21.11.2014

PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

1. Applicant group and legitimate interest

Name: Fleischer-Innung Nordthüringen

Address:

Legitimate interest: The Fleischer-Innung Nordthüringen (North Thuringia Butchers' Guild) has a membership of 39 butchery businesses and represents 90 % of ‘Eichsfelder Feldg(k)ieker’ producers in the part of the Eichsfeld that lies in Thuringia, which accounts for a large part of the defined geographical area.

2. Member State or Third Country

Germany

3. Heading in the product specification affected by the amendment(s)

— ☐ Name of product — ☒ Description of product — ☐ Geographical area — ☐ Proof of origin — ☒ Method of production — ☒ Link with the geographical area — ☐ Labelling — ☒ Other (inspection bodies)

4. Type of amendment(s)

— ☒ Amendment to product specification of a registered PDO or PGI not to be qualified as minor in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. — ☐ Amendment to product specification of registered PDO or PGI for which a Single Document (or equivalent) has not been published not to be qualified as minor in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012

5. Amendment(s)

5.1. Cuts of meat – meat

Throughout the text, the words ‘cuts of meat’ are to be replaced by the word ‘meat’. Replacement of the words ‘cuts of meat/pork’ with the word ‘meat’ is not a substantive amendment. It merely serves to prevent the misconception that the meat used has to be cut in a specific way, for this is not the case and would be pointless in the context of sausage-making.

Further amendments to individual sections, in each case referring to the numbered heading in the Single Document:

5.2. amending point 3.2 of the Single Document, ‘Description of product’:

Under the heading ‘Chemical properties’, the specification of the fat content (‘not more than approx. 35 % in the matured product’) is to be deleted.

Justification:

The maximum fat content requirement as currently set out in the specification (35 %) is not in line with the bona fide and established practices of producers in the area covered by the Fleischer-Innung Nordthüringen.

It is also objectively justified to omit specification of the fat content altogether, as the relative fat content increases as the product dries and fat content is generally not a measure of quality in the case of long-maturing raw sausages. This does not have any adverse effects either on the product's characteristic objective properties or on its appearance.

5.3. Amending point 5 of the Single Document, ‘Link with the geographical area’

Under ‘Objective properties’ in point 5.2 ‘Specificity of the product’, the following paragraph:

The producers of ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ either slaughter their own animals or source carcases – generally custom slaughtered – from the regional slaughterhouse in Heiligenstadt. This has a derogation and a list of processing plants that has been confirmed by the competent veterinary authority.

is to be replaced by the following paragraph:

The meat used to produce ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ comes exclusively from slaughterhouses which are licensed to deliver warm meat.

Justification:

This means that the meat no longer has to come only from the slaughterhouse in Heiligenstadt, and the slaughterhouses no longer have to be in the defined geographical area. The meat used to produce ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ may instead come from any slaughterhouse licensed to deliver warm meat and able to meet the delivery deadlines laid down in the specification and necessary for technical reasons.

5.4. Inspection bodies:

The competent inspection bodies for Lower Saxony and Hessen are to be added.

In Lower Saxony:

Name : Veterinär- und Verbraucherschutzamt für den Landkreis und die Stadt Göttingen Address : Walkenmühlenweg 8, 37083 Göttingen Tel. : Fax : Email : veterinaeramt@landkreis-goettingen.de

Name : Landkreis Northeim, Fachbereich VII – Gesundheits- und Veterinärwesen, Verbraucherschutz Address : Medenheimer Straße 6/8, 37154 Northeim Tel. : Fax : Email : veterinaeramt@landkreis-northeim.de

In Hessen:

Name : Regierungspräsidium Gießen, Standort Wetzlar Address : Schanzenfeldstraße 8, 35578 Wetzlar Tel. : Fax : 0641-303-2197 Email :

Justification:

The defined geographical area is the Eichsfeld, which is situated partly in northern Thuringia and partly in Lower Saxony and Hessen.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘EICHSFELDER FELDGIEKER’/‘EICHSFELDER FELDKIEKER’

EU No: DE-PGI-0105-01281 – 21.11.2014

PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

1. Name(s)

‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’/‘Eichsfelder Feldkieker’

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

Sliceable raw sausage with a typical, slightly acidic taste.

Made from pork with the typical seasonings (essential are: salt and pepper, black or white, often coriander), stuffed into sausage casings, bladder-shaped (calf's bladder, linen bag, protein casing).

High-quality, firm meat from pigs with an extended fattening period and a slaughter weight of at least 130 kg is used. The meat is from selected meat parts (muscle, thighs, back; as fat, only firm belly and back fat). After slaughtering, the pork must still be warm when production begins. ‘Warm meat processing’ means that the non-refrigerated meat must be transported no more than two hours, and processed no more than four hours, after slaughter.

Chemical properties:

— meat protein free of fibrous protein: not less than 15 %,

— loss of raw material on maturing: not less than 33 %

Physical properties

— air-dried, sliceable,

— careful maturing in a controlled environment, the duration of maturing depending on the dimensions of the casing,

— climate chambers containing flora cultivated over a number of decades; in the case of new climate chambers, the flora is introduced with the pre-matured product.

— Size: diameter: 8-15 cm; length: 15-30 cm; pre-sliced product: casings with a diameter of not less than 65 mm.

— Appearance: raw sausage, firm enough to cut, normally pear-shaped, having a cut surface with a bright red colour, uniformly grained with pieces of fatty meat and lean meat.

Organoleptic characteristics:

— select, aromatic taste nuances typical of this type of product, yielding to the bite.

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

Certain requirements apply to the quality of the meat used for ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’. High-quality, firm meat that can come only from pigs with as high a slaughter weight as possible (at least 130 kg) is used. For these high slaughter weights, crosses of native breeds with good stress resistance are used (e.g. Deutsches Landschwein, Deutsches Edelschwein and sometimes hogs of other breeds, though not of the Pietrain breed (susceptible to stress)). All parts separated from the carcass, including the best cuts, are used for this speciality sausage product.

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

The entire production process, from the selection of suitable raw materials to the maturing of the sausage, must take place in the defined geographical area.

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

—

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The Eichsfeld is a region of central Germany. It lies within the borders of several federal states. These include:

— in Thuringia: the entire Eichsfeld district; in Unstrut-Hainich district only Dünwald, Anrode, Katharinenberg and Heyerode municipalities and the administrative community of Hildebrandshausen/Lengenfeld unterm Stein,

— in Lower Saxony: in Göttingen rural district the Gieboldehausen municipalities group, Duderstadt municipality and, in the Radolfshausen municipalities group, only the Seeburg and Seulingen municipalities; in Northeim rural district only Katlenburg-Lindau municipality,

— in Hessen: in Werra-Meissner district only Neuseesen and Werleshausen in Witzenhausen municipality.

5. Link with the geographical area

Specificity of the geographical area:

The Eichsfeld is a historical region in south-eastern Lower Saxony and north-western Thuringia. It differs considerably from the regions surrounding it on account of its specific soil characteristics and climate (Wüstefeld, Karl: Eichsfelder Volksleben, Duderstadt 1919, page 2, appendix 2). There is a long tradition of sausage-making, especially the manufacture of ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’, which is documented in literature, as can be seen from the following records:

During city inspections in 1718 in Hilkerode, among other things ‘fourteen good groschen were paid for every 3,5 pounds of felt kycker’ (Wandregister, now Archiv der Stadt Duderstadt).

A later document in the records of Bernshausen refers to ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ in 1724:

According to the records of expenditure kept by the treasury in Duderstadt, twelve groschen were paid ‘for two big feld gücker’ served to and eaten by the cathedral dean and governor of the Eichsfeld during another visit to Duderstadt from 21 to 23 October 1744.

An entry in the book of expenses of Duderstadt's treasury in 1748 during a visit by the cathedral dean and governor of the Eichsfeld on 4 November 1748 reads: ‘They were served sausages and feltgieker for breakfast and the midday meal’.

Around 1770 a record in Kloster Reifenstein's book of finances states that ‘76 pounds were delivered to the Court in Mainz’; this uses the Latin name ‘Eichfeldicus Butulus’ (Deutschlands kulinarisches Erbe, Cadolzburg 1998, page 63).

In 1927 and 1937 editions of the periodical Unser Eichsfeld, there is reference to the fact that the Feldgieker was also very popular abroad as early as the 18th century. Joseph Rudolf (who died in 1816) reported that it was presented as a gift of thanks at the imperial castle in Prague where he was employed.

Those close to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe also appreciated the quality of the Feldgieker. On 4 April 1793, Karoline Jagemann, an actress and opera singer whose parents came from the Eichsfeld, wrote to her father in Weimar about these sausages.

In 1844, a full description of the ‘Feldkyker’ [field watcher] was given: ‘Feldkyker’ is a long Schlackwurst in a thick natural casing which may have derived its name from the fact that when it – the long variety – is placed in a trouser pocket or hunting bag it sticks out of the pocket or bag and ‘looks’ into the field. The base end is called the ‘Feldkyke’ of the first order which at the thickest end is made of intestine (Die goldene Mark Duderstadt, Carl Hellrung, 1844).

In 1919, a local historian named Wüstefeld wrote (page 13): ‘Simply because in their everyday life the people of the Eichsfeld are no less than gourmets – the Feldgieker (a Mettwurst) is worthy of praise beyond all measure, but it is not eaten every day – , they may afford themselves special entertainment on special occasions.’

The well-established nature of the processing of warm meat to make ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ is in line with traditional practices in the region. Indeed, in the Eichsfeld region warm meat is even used to make fresh mince, a process forbidden in the rest of Germany, but allowed in the region because of a derogation in German meat-hygiene law. This legislative arrangement reflects the history of warm pigmeat having been processed in the Eichsfeld region for centuries and right up to the present day.

Specificity of the product:

Objective properties

The processing of warm meat traditionally carried out in the Eichsfeld is practised hardly anywhere else for producing raw sausage (except in the case of Ahle Wurscht in Hesse). ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ is the only Feldgieker sausage for which this method is used (it is not used for Göttinger Feldgieker). The processing of warm meat is one of the reasons for the outstanding quality of the product.

Warm meat differs from cooled meat in terms of the biochemical processes that take place. For a certain period after slaughter, these are similar to those that take place when the animal is still alive. They are caused by a higher pH value, the presence of an energy source (adenosine triphosphate, or ATP) in the cells of the still-warm carcass and the interplay between it and the contractile muscle proteins myosin and actin. This interplay leads to different behaviour in the skeletal muscles, producing a more tender consistency and maintaining the separation between the two protein components of the muscle. This in turn improves water and fat retention, thus making the meat better for processing. There is less of a need for artificial additives.

The meat used to produce ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ comes exclusively from slaughterhouses which are licensed to deliver warm meat.

The ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ can be characterised as a traditional regional speciality on account of the careful maturing process it undergoes in the special climate of the Eichsfeld, the keen skills of the local butchers, the length of the maturing process, which depends on the size, and the bladder shape which is specific to the product and is hardly ever seen in any other sausages. The product's special taste can be attributed to the use of climate chambers containing flora maintained over a number of decades (in the case of new climate chambers the flora is introduced with the pre-matured product).

Renown

The product enjoys a special reputation because of its geographical origin. There is a link to the geographical origin of the product simply through its characteristic appearance, in that the particular shape is a centuries-old tradition in the Eichsfeld and forms the basis for its reputation. Far beyond the region itself, and particularly throughout central Germany, the relevant traders and consumers associate the shape of the sausage with the Eichsfeld.

Numerous documentary records stretching back over a long period of time provide evidence of this from the past. Even today, the ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ is well known and popular as a culinary sausage speciality from the Eichsfeld, both within the region and beyond.

The product's reputation is also illustrated by the following examples:

In literature:

Unser schönes Eichsfeld by Dieter Wagner (published by the Eichsfeld Heritage and Tourism Association, Mecke, 2000) mentions the ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ on pages 160 and 190, referring to the ‘incomparable flavour’ of the products made from Eichsfeld farm-slaughtered meat, of which the Feldgieker is one. On page 190, the ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ is described as the ‘king of Eichsfeld sausages’.

The section on ‘Eating and drinking’ on p. 40 of Thüringen by Sucher and Wurlitzer (DuMont pocket travel guide, 2nd edition, 2006) contains the following text:

‘Almost every part of Thuringia has its own delicacy. The Eichsfelders, for example, swear not only by their Bratwurst, but also by the Eichsfelder Feldgieker and the Eichsfelder Kälberblase, two types of hard Mettwurst made from pork. (…)’.

The ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ appears even in the subtitle of Das Eichsfeld Kochbuch (Limosa 2008), where it is used as a synonym for the range of Eichsfeld cuisine. The subtitle reads: ‘… from Schmandkuchen [sour cream cake] to Feldgieker’.

Eichsfelder Küchengeschichten (Mecke, 2004, 3rd extended edition) mentions on p. 21 that the ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ matures until May and is not cut until the first cuckoo is heard. The book also contains a story (on page 22) involving the Feldgieker. It also recounts (on page 80) how on a particular occasion the last large Feldgieker were eaten, with Schmandbrot [bread and sour cream], as slaughter time was approaching.

The ‘Eichsfelder Heimatzeitschrift’ (Year 53, Vol. I, January 2009, p. 9 ff) records, in connection with the fact that at slaughter one of the helpers recited a long poem, that:

‘And it was also a good thing that the sausage making finished by the time he had reached the 16th verse. After all, the delights of the “king of Eichsfeld sausages”, known in the Obereichsfeld as “Feldgieker” and in the Untereichsfeld as “Kälberblase”, were intended to be savoured after almost a year of maturing. (There follows a quote from Theodor Storm) (…) The Süßkuchen [cake containing sugar beet syrup] is for the people of Mühlhausen what farm-slaughtered meat and the Feldgieker are for the people of the Eichsfeld. (…)’.

At special events; in relation to tourism:

The Eichsfeld region, for example, makes extensive reference to the Feldgieker as a product which creates an identity and as a means of advertising for tourism purposes. The homepage of Eichsfeld Touristik e.V. reads:

‘The Eichsfeld region has long been known for its good cuisine. Its principal, well-known calling card is the “Eichsfelder Feldgieker” or “Eichsfelder Kälberblase”. The “Stracke” is the cylinder-shaped, “straight” version.’

At the Rostkultur 2009 sausage festival, the programme focused at 14.30 pm on the ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’, as can be seen from the Thüringer Wurschtblatt and the programme itself.

According to the Heiligenstadt events calendar, the ‘cutting of the longest Feldgieker’ took place on 3 October 2008.

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 eligibility of this designation for registration derives from its particular reputation and quality. Its reputation is based on the fact that the products originate in the area in question. The reputation of Eichsfeld sausage can be attributed to the centuries-long tradition of sausage-making in the Eichsfeld. Its unmistakable taste is the result of the traditional, typical seasoning used and the special treatment which the sausage products undergo. The product also has special properties. The processing of the meat when it is still warm after slaughtering is a traditional method of production in the Eichsfeld. It is only in the Eichsfeld that Feldgieker are made from warm meat. This processing of the meat when it is still warm contributes to the special quality of the Feldgieker. The ‘Eichsfelder Feldgieker’ has a looser consistency than raw sausage made with cold meat. The casing generally separates easily from its contents. An important feature of a good raw sausage is the low free moisture content (i.e. the aw value) in the warm meat; this depends on other factors, however, and so cannot be quantified. Lower aw values discourage the growth of unwanted microbes. As warm meat contains only limited amounts of free moisture enabling microbes to develop, raw sausages produced from it have stable properties when it comes to maturing and storage.

Objectively speaking, the geographical origin has a decisive impact on the product's characteristics; this is especially true of the climate and the flora in the climate chambers. Attempts have been made to produce the Feldgieker in other regions. It was found that the typical taste did not develop there; the sausages tasted different.

Reference to publication of the product specification

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

http://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/geo/detail.pdfdownload/40809

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