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
Date: 2015-07-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Alsace, France, beef, consumer information, designation of origin, foodstuff, meat product, pigmeat, product designation, quality control of agricultural products








C_2015222EN.01000501.xml










7.7.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 222/5





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
(2015/C 222/04)
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

‘KNACK D’ALSACE’


EU No: FR-PGI-0005-1247 — 23.07.2014


PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

1.   Name(s)


‘Knack d’Alsace’

2.   Member State or Third Country

France
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 the product to which the name in (1) applies

‘Knack d’Alsace’ is a cooked sausage made from a fine paste and encased in a natural skin (sheep’s casings). It is hot smoked over beech wood (sawdust, shavings, logs or chips).
The paste is made from:






—


lean pork and pork fat without rind,










—


beef










—


and the following ingredients: crushed ice, sugars, blood plasma (pork or beef), salt, spirits, spices, spice extracts, aromatic plants, aromatic plant extracts, natural aromas and additives authorised in the specification.




The fine paste (excluding the natural casing) consists of:






—


a minimum of 70 % meat raw materials (beef and pork),










—


a minimum of 7 % beef,










—


a minimum of 30 % pork (lean meat and fat).




These percentages are expressed as a proportion of the total weight of the mixture during processing.

Physical properties:

The ‘knack d’Alsace’ is slightly curved and has a length of 2 to 30 cm and a diameter of 20-28 mm.
It is soft and smooth with a well stretched casing. The colour of the outer skin varies:






—


if it is only smoked, it is of an even brownish colour,










—


sometimes natural colouring agents or colouring agents obtained from natural raw materials are added after smoking, in which case it is of a pink to orangey colour.




On cutting, the ‘knack d’Alsace’ displays a light pink-coloured filling with a firm and elastic texture.
On biting, it is crispy (‘knackant’) to the tooth.
Natural smoking gives it a delicate smoky flavour.

Chemical properties (without casing):













—


moisture content of the product with fat removed 80 %














—


fat content 26 %







For a moisture content of 80 % with fat removed











—


total soluble sugar content 1 %














—


collagen/protide ratio 18 %






 










—


nitrite content 150 mg/kg






 




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

With the exception of trimmings, which may be frozen for health reasons, the meat used is fresh.
It is prohibited to use meat from males that are uncastrated or with cryptorchidism whose testicles have not descended into the scrotum and mechanically separated meat.
The lean pork meat comes from the following cuts: ham, shoulders, belly, loins and trimmings.
The fat used is a hard fat taken from the back, underneath the shoulder, the ham and the throat. Frozen or deep-frozen fat may not be used, and rind may not be added.
Offal, with the exception of the thymus present in the throat, may also not be used.
The beef used has a fat content of 15 to 20 %.
3.4.   Specific steps in production that must take place in the defined geographical area

The following steps are carried out in the geographical area: chopping/mincing, filling, smoking/cooking, refrigeration.
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

Labelling must indicate the name of the product (‘Knack d’Alsace’) and display the European Union’s PGI logo.
4.   Concise definition of the geographical area

The geographical area in which the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ is produced comprises the entire Alsace region, i.e. the French Departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin.
5.   Link with the geographical area

5.1.   Specificity of the geographical area


Natural factors

The geographical area is characterised by a predominance of beech trees in Alsatian forests. Beech wood is therefore preponderant and widely available in the region.

Human factors

Alsace has a long tradition of making charcuterie. The ‘Knackwurst’, an ancestor of the ‘Knack d’Alsace’, is mentioned in texts from the beginning of the 16th century and is cited in a work by Jean Fischart entitled ‘Geschichtklitterung’ (1575).
—   A region marked by its history
Alsace’s location on the border with Germany has strongly influenced its history and the development of know-how in charcuterie-making. Over its history, Alsace has sometimes been part of France and sometimes part of Germany.
Before the war of 1870, Alsatian charcuterie was largely produced manually, although there was a degree of mechanisation.
After Alsace was annexed by Germany in 1871, thousands of Germans settled in the region. These included some thirty charcuterie-makers from Württemberg, who settled in Strasbourg. They introduced improved production methods and better equipment. Their more mechanised methods improved meat processing, enabling a finer meat filling to be produced, and beef was already widely used. In particular, they introduced a mincer powered by an electric motor, which was even used by small craft businesses. These businesses employed a local workforce and trained apprentices, and technological improvements and modern methods gradually spread to other firms.
After the First World War, new tax rules indirectly contributed to the development of Alsatian charcuterie, and in particular the ‘Knack d’Alsace’. The introduction of a tax on retail sales of meat considerably reduced the profits of butchers who only sold meat. As charcuterie was untaxed, butchers started to sell it alongside fresh meat.
Since then, all of the craft businesses in the Alsatian meat sector offer both meat and charcuterie.
—   A specific know-how
The production process for the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ relies on the genuine know-how of charcuterie-makers. Even though some stages in the process are mechanised, the human element remains crucial at certain key stages, such as mincing and filling.
The mincing stage, which is performed by a mincer, involves the preparation of an emulsion (fine paste). At this stage, the mincer adds the ingredients needed to produce the paste, including crushed ice, which prevents the temperature from rising and destabilising the emulsion. The quantity of ice added by the mincer depends on the appearance of the mixture and its temperature, which he continually monitors. He also adjusts the duration and speed of mincing and monitors how the mixture is evolving both visually and by touch. His skill allows a stable emulsion to be obtained. The paste must be sticky, smooth, even and consistent and should not contain any small pieces. This vital stage, which requires specific skills that are acquired with experience, is often carried out by the owner of the small business or a specialised employee.
The filling stage involves pushing the fine paste into a natural skin. This also requires know-how on the part of the operator, who must be able to assess by touch how the natural skin is being filled whilst taking account of its fragility.
5.2.   Specificity of the product

The ‘Knack d’Alsace’ is characterised by its firm and crispy texture, its pork and beef composition and its delicate smoky flavour.
Its crispy texture is so characteristic that the term ‘knackant’ [crispy] is used as a name for it. The word ‘knack’ is onomatopoeic and imitates the sound which the sausage makes when it is bitten into.
The use of beef, which contains different fibres to those of pork, affects the firmness of the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ and helps give it its crispy texture.
Natural smoking over beech wood gives the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ its delicate smoky flavour.
5.3.   Causal link between the geographical origin and, where appropriate, a given quality, the reputation or other characteristics of the product

The causal link with the geographical area of the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ is founded on its specific quality and reputation.
Alsace has a long tradition of charcuterie-making, as testified by written references from the 16th century.
The history of Alsace, and in particular its annexation by Germany in 1871 and the imposition after the First World War of a specific tax on retail sales of meat, contributed to technical improvements in the preparation of the fine paste used to make the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ and the development of the profession of butcher/charcuterie-maker. This historical context has been crucial to Alsatian charcuterie-makers acquiring the know-how that determines the specific characteristics of the ‘Knack d’Alsace’, i.e. its crispy texture, its pork and beef composition and its delicate smoky flavour.
The crispy texture of the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ results from the know-how of a specialised operator, the mincer, who is able to obtain a fine, sticky, even and consistent paste, and from the filling of the natural skin, which requires experience in controlling the rate at which the paste is pushed into the skin in order to obtain a well-stretched casing despite its fragility. The operator ensures by touch that the skin is being properly filled, this being a vital element of the crispiness of the finished product.
The incorporation of beef is linked to the fact that Alsatian charcuterie-makers have traditionally sold fresh meat and charcuterie alongside each other. They thus have access to a varied raw material, which they take best advantage of by using cuts of beef to produce sausages. This particularity also results from the influence of the production methods of charcuterie-makers from Württemberg, who very early on mastered the method of producing sausages containing beef.
Finally, natural smoking over beech wood, which is traditional in Alsace, gives the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ its distinctive smoky flavour. Beech wood is used to smoke the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ because it is widely available in Alsace and allows the slow and incomplete combustion of the wood which is necessary to produce smoke without the disadvantages of the coniferous species that also exist in Alsace but which soot up smokehouses.
Alsatian charcuterie-makers have thus been able to take advantage of their natural environment and, even more so, historical circumstances to acquire their own know-how, which has given the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ its specific characteristics and made it an emblematic product of Alsatian charcuterie-making.
The ‘Knack d’Alsace’ does indeed enjoy a high reputation acquired over many years since the 17th century, when it became a key element of popular festivities. For example, when festivities were held to celebrate the convalescence of Louis XV in September 1744, large quantities of the product were offered to the population of Strasbourg. The ‘Knack d’Alsace’ was also presented at the World Exhibition of 1867 in Paris, in particular by the charcuterie-maker Frick.
It is served at all village festivities in Alsace and with cocktails or on buffets. It is served in pairs on a paper plate together with bread and a mild mustard. It is also one of the main meat products served to accompany sauerkraut.
Today, the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ is a symbol of Alsatian gastronomy and popular culture, but its reputation has spread beyond the region. It is mentioned in every publication dealing with Alsatian cooking, including ‘La gastronomie alsacienne’ published in 1969 by the publishers Saisons d’Alsace, which states that the ‘Knack d’Alsace’ is ‘the most famous sausage in Alsace’, and in the ‘Inventaire du patrimoine culinaire de la France’ in its edition devoted to Alsace, published by Albin Michel SA.

Reference to publication of the specification

(the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation (2))
https://info.agriculture.gouv.fr/gedei/site/bo-agri/document_administratif-3bb491ee-d1a8-433d-8da0-f8dca23e1b08


(1)  OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.

(2)  See footnote 1.