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
Date: 2008-05-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: France, designation of origin, location of production, mode of production, mollusc, product designation, shellfish farming

15.5.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

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V

(Announcements)

OTHER ACTS

COMMISSION

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

(2008/C 118/15)

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.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 510/2006

‘HUÎTRES MARENNES OLÉRON’

EC No: FR/PGI/005/0591/16.02.2007

PGI ( X ) PDO ( )

1. Name

‘Huîtres Marennes Oléron’

2. Member State or Third Country

France

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.7 — Fresh fish, molluscs and crustaceans and products derived therefrom

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

Huîtres Marennes Oléron are oysters which are matured or bred on oyster beds. They are not open sea
oysters.

Depending on the degree of transformation of the product after it has been placed on oyster beds,
which is basically measured using the filling power index (ratio of drained flesh to total weight × 100),
the Huître Marennes Oléron is classified:

— from 7 to 10,5, as a fine fattened oyster,

— above or equal to 10,5, as a special fattened oyster,

— above or equal to 12, as a special oyster grown on an oyster bed.

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

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From an organoleptic point of view:

— a Fine Fattened Oyster is rich in water content and balanced with a fine flesh flavour,

— the Green Fine Fattened Oyster has the characteristics of the fine fattened oyster and a green hue

around the gills as a result of it becoming green naturally on a ‘green’ oyster bed,

— a Special Fattened Oyster is round, voluminous in the mouth, and is noticeably softer,

— the Green Special Fattened Oyster has the characteristics of the special fattened oyster and a green

hue around the gills as a result of it becoming green naturally on a ‘green’ oyster bed,

— a Special Oyster Grown on an Oyster Bed, with a sizeable amount of flesh, is firm and crispy, ivory

in colour and has a pronounced, long-lasting taste in the mouth.

The Huîtres Marennes Oléron are sold alive and are not processed.

3.3. Raw materials

Not applicable

3.4. Feed (for products of animal origin only)

Not applicable

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

The maturing or breeding of Huîtres Marennes Oléron must take place in oyster beds situated in the iden-
tified geographical area.

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

Packaging and dispatch of the Huîtres Marennes Oléron must take place within the identified geogra-
phical area in order to preserve their quality and to ensure better sanitary conditions through speed of
execution, and in order to guarantee their origin.

To safeguard their quality and ensure better sanitary conditions for the product, the oysters must be
packaged within 24 hours of being fished. The oyster bed worker ensures that the sanitary condition of
the oysters is good and monitors the sanitary condition of the oysters that they dispatch. Each
consignor is subject to a collective multi-year plan of sanitary own checks, as part of which sampling
and bacteriological analyses are carried out. Quality is also guaranteed by means of a final check before
packaging, carried out by qualified or managerial staff, in order to eliminate empty, badly formed or
soiled oysters. The oysters must be packaged flat, with the cupped valve on the bottom, to guarantee
the most favourable preservation conditions possible. The packages are secured tightly and the baskets
are adapted to the quantity of oysters packaged, in order to prevent the oysters from moving.

To guarantee the origin of the product, the consignor keeps a register to monitor the products (in
batches) and this allows them to be tracked at all stages of the process. In accordance with current
legislation (Decree 94-340) each consigning establishment must be approved by the veterinary services
(EC No) as a consigning establishment of live shellfish.

On no account can the product be transported loose or presented for sale out of its original packaging.

3.7. Specific rules concerning labelling

Apart from the indications required by current legislation, the following items which are specific to
Huîtres Marennes Oléron are mentioned on the labelling:

— the geographical name: ‘Huîtres Marennes Oléron’,

— the logo for ‘Huîtres Marennes Oléron’,

— the logo of the Protected Geographical Indication,

— the commercial name of the product:

— ‘Huîtres Fines de Claires’, with the specification: ‘affinées en claires à Marennes Oléron’,

— ‘Huîtres Fines de Claires Vertes’, with the specification: ‘affinées en claires à Marennes Oléron’,

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— ‘Huîtres Spéciales de Claires’, with the specification: ‘affinées en claires à Marennes Oléron’,

— ‘Huîtres Spéciales de Claires Vertes’, with the specification:

‘affinées en claires à Marennes

Oléron’,

— ‘Huîtres Spéciales Pousse en Claire’.

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The geographical area for maturing on oyster beds, breeding on oyster beds, packaging and dispatching
Huîtres Marennes Oléron is the area of the Bassin de Marennes Oléron.

includes

twenty-seven communes: Le Gua, Nieulle-sur-Seudre, St

Just-Luzac, Marennes,
This
Bourcefranc-le-Chapus, Hiers-Brouage, Moëze, Saint Froult, Port des Barques, Beaugeay, Soubise, Saint
Nazaire (right-bank of the Seudre: 12 communes), La Tremblade, Etaules, Chaillevette, L'Eguille, Arvert,
Breuillet, Mornac (left-bank of the Seudre: 7 communes), Saint Trojan, Grand Village, Le Château
d'Oléron, Saint Pierre d'Oléron, Dolus, Saint Georges d'Oléron, La Brèe les Bains, Saint Denis d'Oléron
(Ile d'Oléron: 8 communes).

5.

Link with the geographical area

5.1. Specificity of the geographical area

The principle activity of the Bassin de Marennes Oléron is shellfish farming. Oyster farming is carried
out on tidal land (for breeding) and salt marshes (for maturing and breeding).

The oyster beds are often former salt marshes, they are shallow basins located on the edges of the
Seudre or on the coast between the île d'Oléron and the mainland. They are fed through the action of
gravity by brackish waters (mixture of sea water and freshwater) when the tide comes up through chan-
nels.

The oyster bed has an environment which is very rich in minerals and nutrients, and allows phyto-
plankton, on which oysters feed, to grow. Oysters filter the water with their developed gills and effec-
tively benefit from the nutritional resource specific to the oyster bed. By taking in this nourishment
specific to the oyster bed within several hours, the oyster becomes transformed by means of a signifi-
cant renewal of its cellular tissues and, in turn, acquires the characteristics of this particular environ-
ment.

5.2. Specificity of the product

Huîtres Marennes Oléron are oysters which are matured or raised on oyster beds, and this confers on
them a more refined taste (less bitter and iodized) than that of open sea oysters, better resistance to
decreases in water levels and therefore they are better preserved, a quality shell (outside free from para-
sites and inside renacred), a green hue around the gills (for the Fine Fattened Green Oysters or the
Special Fattened Green Oysters) and natural purification. Breeding on oyster beds allows, in addition to
the characteristics gained from maturing on oyster beds, the oysters to grow significantly (flesh and
shell), and gives them a very specific texture and flavour.

5.3. Causal link between the geographical area and the quality or characteristics of the product (for PDO) or a specific

quality, reputation or other characteristic of the product (for PGI)

Huîtres Marennes Oléron are the product of:

— a particular environment, the oyster bed, characterised by a geomorphological configuration and a

unique and specific hydraulic system,

— the knowledge of the oyster bed worker of the environment and the product which has been

passed down over the centuries and has given rise to breeding and maturing in oyster beds,

— a shellfish, the oyster, perfectly adapted to this environment.

The principal organoleptic characteristics which are transformed after maturing or breeding in oyster
beds are:

— improved presentation: certain organisms which colonise the outsides of the open sea oyster shells,
such as barnacles and macrophytic algae, recede or disappear. Furthermore, being placed in oyster
beds enables the oyster to increase the solidity of the insides of its shell by means of a renacring
effect,

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— improved quality outside the water: the quality of the packaged oysters is significantly superior
where they come from oyster beds, as the strengthened shells which are the result of placement in
oyster beds limits the inter-valvular loss of water during decreases in the water level,

— a more refined taste: the clay and mineral content of the soil and the walls is specific to the oyster
bed. It helps to build up a nutritious substratum which is important for the development of the
oyster's nourishment. Oysters placed in beds have access to this nourishment which is specific to
the bed. This specific nourishment gives the oyster its ‘oyster bed taste’. Additionally, the salty taste
is generally mitigated by the placement on the bed,

— acquisition of the green hue around the gills (not systematic): the wall of the oyster beds can natu-
rally become covered by a diatom known as Navicula ostrea which produces a blue pigment. By
filtering water from the bed, the oyster becomes pigmented around its gills. The blue pigment of
the diatoma together with the natural colour of the gills turns the latter green,

— the growth gain of the oyster (solely for breeding on beds): when bred on oyster beds, the oysters
grow significantly and generally double their initial weight. Bound to the extremely rich environ-
ment of the oyster bed in these conditions, the flesh is very considerable in size and the oyster
acquires a pronounced taste of the oyster bed.

http://agriculture.gouv.fr/spip/IMG/pdf/cdc_igp_huitres_maren.pdf

Reference to publication of the specification