EN Official Journal of the European Union C 422/4

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

2014/C 422/04

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).

SINGLE DOCUMENT

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

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

‘CHOURIÇA DE SANGUE DE MELGAÇO’

EC No: PT-PGI-0005-01010-2.7.2012

PGI ( X ) PDO ( )

1. Name

‘Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço’

2. Member State or Third Country

Portugal

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

Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço is a smoked sausage, obtained from bloody pigmeat trimmings, pork fat and blood.

It has the following characteristics:

External:

Cylindrical horseshoe-shaped sausage, with a diameter of between 2 cm and 4 cm and a length of between 20 cm and 35 cm.

Fairly smooth black outside, moderately moist on the surface.

Internal:

An oblique cut reveals a well-bound filling, paté-like in appearance, in which the meat and fat is irregularly distributed, conferring a range of colours according to the proportion and type of raw material used.

Chemical properties:

Parameter Mean Standard deviation Maximum Minimum pH 5,05 0,29 5,56 4,67 Moisture (%) 28,11 8,72 39,72 14,76 Protein (%) 20,46 2,94 25,63 15,32 Fat (%) 42,15 11,61 57,05 26,37 Chlorides (as NaCl) (%) 1,95 0,49 2,63 1,20

Organoleptic characteristics:

Aroma: intense aroma of smoke and onion. Sweet.

Texture: semi-soft, moderately succulent and very tender.

Taste: slightly sweet, moderately acidic, slightly spicy and a slight smoky tang. The onion flavour predominates.

3.3. Raw materials (for processed products only)

The meat, fat and blood come from pigs of the Bisaro breed, either pure-bred or crosses, slaughtered with a live weight of at least 110 kg and a minimum age of 32 weeks.

The recipe uses bloody pigmeat trimmings, pork fat and blood, red vinho verde or similar wine, salt, garlic, onion, bay leaf and pepper.

Cumin, rye flour and sweet and/or spicy paprika are used as seasoning.

The casing is pig’s small intestine that has previously been washed and cured.

Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço must be smoked using dry, non-resinous oak, gorse, white birch, heather and Cytisus baeticus (a member of the broom family) wood.

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 identified geographical area

The specific steps in the production of Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço that must take place in the identified geographical area are preliminary anticoagulation treatment of the blood; selecting, cutting, preparing, seasoning and maturing the meat; preparing, filling and tying the casings; smoking and curing.

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

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3.7. Specific rules on labelling

The label must bear the words ‘Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço — Indicação Geográfica Protegida’ (Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço — Protected Geographical Indication) and the Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço logo, shown below.

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The geographical area for the production of Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço covers all parishes of the Municipality of Melgaço: Alvaredo, Castro Laboreiro, Chaviães, Cousso, Cristóval, Cubalhão, Fiães, Gave, Lamas de Mouro, Paços, Paderne, Parada do Monte, Penso, Prado, Remoães, Roussas, S. Paio and Vila.

5. Link with the geographical area

5.1. Specificity of the geographical area

The geographical area provides natural conditions for the production of Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço that derive from its altitude, its specific microclimate, the types of wood used for smoking and the know-how of the local people, passed down from generation to generation.

The area is located in north-western Portugal within a natural amphitheatre bounded to the south by the Vale do Minho mountain range and to the north by the Serra da Galiza range. The prevailing microclimate results from the surrounding mountainous relief and is characterised by a continental-type climate with long cold winters and hot dry summers. The average (minimum) temperature is never more than 11 °C. The altitude of this geographical area goes up to above 1 300 m.

Since specific edaphoclimatic situations promote a specific plant community, the plant species characteristic of the Melgaço microclimate are oak (Quercus), Iberian white birch (Betula Celtiberica) and broom (Cytisus spp and Genista spp), of which Cytisus baeticus and heather (Erica) are species native to the region.

Pig rearing in Melgaço, which dates back to time immemorial, is a result of the form of subsistence farming practised in the region.

5.2. Specificity of the product

The product is a sausage distinguished from others in the same category by the inclusion of pig blood, red vinho verde, or similar wine, and onion. The blood is used as an element to bind the pieces of bloody pigmeat and pork fat, conferring a semi-soft consistency and dark colouring, while the onion and smoke give it an intense flavour.

Other characteristics which distinguish Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço are the preparation of the blood using natural anticoagulants (red vinho verde, or similar wine, and salt), its appearance when cut of a well-bound filling and paté-like appearance, with an irregular distribution of meat and fat, its semi-soft consistency and dark colouring, the fairly smooth black exterior, moderately moist on the surface, and the exclusive use of natural pig intestine as a casing.

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)

For a long time Melgaço was a highly inaccessible enclave. Thanks to this isolation, pig husbandry traditions, such as slaughtering at the onset of winter, channelled the local people's skill and know-how into meat processing and preservation employing natural methods adapted to the environment, such as how best to exploit the more perishable parts of the pig and its blood, cold curing, smoking and the sorça preparation technique.

The production of this sausage in the Melgaço district results from the area's environmental and climatic conditions and the know-how passed down from generation to generation until the present day.

The art of cutting the bloody meat trimmings and pork fat into fine pieces (2-3 cm) contributes to the appearance of the interior when cut - a well-bound filling, with an irregular distribution of meat and fat, and to the horseshoe shape, since it allows the filled casing to be folded.

The technique of sorça involves seasoning the meat with natural ingredients (red vinho verde, or similar wine, salt, garlic and a larger proportion of onion in relation to the garlic, bay leaf and pepper) and allowing it to rest for up to a maximum of three days in cool premises at a temperature which may not exceed 11 °C, mixing it twice a day. The technique depends on the correct mixing, in the proper proportions, of the bloody meat trimmings and pork fat with the pig blood and other natural ingredients, with particular emphasis on onion, which is used in large quantities in this sausage, and adhering to appropriate timings. The sorça produces a filling which, evidently, after curing gives the Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço its slightly sweet, moderately acidic and slightly spicy taste, dominated by an intense onion flavour.

The use of natural pig small intestine as a casing, the natural way in which this is processed and the compacting of the contents when the sausage is being filled give the product its distinctive texture and external appearance.

Another technique developed by the local people is smoke-curing, which involves exposing the Chouriça de Sangue de Melgaço for approximately 10-15 days to smoke produced by slowly burning dry, non-resinous wood in such a way as to produce little flame and a lot of smoke. The wood used for the smoking process comes from the abundant plant species native to the geographical area and impart an intense aroma and moderately smoky flavour to the sausage. The local people are skilled at determining the exact amount of time a sausage needs to be smoked in order to acquire its distinctive smoky flavour, which is in strict relation to the extent to which the wood has been dried and the amount of smoke released when it is burnt.

Reference to publication of the specification

(Article 5(7) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 (3))

http://www.dgadr.pt/images/docs/val/dop_igp_etg/valor/ce_chourica_sangue_melgaco_ig.pdf

(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.