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: 2015-07-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Andalusia, Spain, consumer information, designation of origin, fish product, foodstuff, labelling, product designation, sea fish




C_2015223EN.01001001.xml










8.7.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 223/10





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 223/09)
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).
SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘MOJAMA DE BARBATE’


EU No: ES-PGI-0005-01210 – 10.03.2014


PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

1.   Name


‘Mojama de Barbate’

2.   Member State or Third Country

Spain
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 1 applies

‘Mojama de Barbate’ is made from the fine part of the tuna fish known as the loin, both the upper and lower loins, which are cured by being seasoned and dried in the air or in tunnels designed for that purpose.
‘Mojama de Barbate’ is classed as either Extra or Primera.


Categoría Extra
: this is mojama made from the inside part of the loin, i.e. the part that is in contact with the backbone, which is less fatty.


Categoría Primera
: this is mojama made from the parts of the loin adjacent to those used for Categoría Extra, which contain more fat.
‘Mojama de Barbate’ is dark brown on the outside, while on the inside there are the streaks characteristic of tuna loin, which are much more conspicuous in Categoría Primera than in Categoría Extra. When cut it is varying shades of deep red, darker at the edges, with a texture that is compact, smooth and not very fibrous, and it smells and tastes of oily fish.
The salt content is between 3 % and 9 % and relative moisture between 35 % and 45 %.
‘Mojama de Barbate’ is vacuum-packed in transparent plastic bags, duly labelled, cut in pieces or slices of different weights in olive or sunflower oil. It may also be packaged in glass jars, sliced in olive or sunflower oil.
3.3.   Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

‘Mojama de Barbate’ is made from tuna loin of the following species: Thunnus albacares, commercially known as yellowfin tuna, light tuna or rabil, and Thunnus thynnus, commercially known as bluefin tuna, with a live weight of more than 200 kg. There are no restrictions regarding the area of provenance of the raw material, but only wild tuna is used.
3.4.   Specific steps in production that must take place in the defined geographical area

The following operations must take place in the defined geographical area: washing the tuna, cutting it up (traditionally known as ronqueo), washing the different cuts obtained, salting, repeated washing to reach the desired level of saltiness, pressing, curing of the loins by drying, trimming and final selection for packaging.
3.5.   Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product to which the registered name refers

‘Mojama de Barbate’ must be packaged at source in order to maintain the physical, chemical and organoleptic characteristics attained at the end of the process, in particular the salt content and relative moisture.
3.6.   Specific rules concerning labelling of the product to which the registered name refers

The following must appear prominently on the label of every producer marketing PGI ‘Mojama de Barbate’: the words ‘Mojama de Barbate’ and the European Union PGI logo. In addition, the label must bear the Protected Geographical Indication’s own logo, shown below.



4.   Concise definition of the geographical area

‘Mojama de Barbate’ is made in the municipalities of Barbate and Vejer de la Frontera, both in the province of Cádiz.
5.   Link with the geographical area

‘Mojama de Barbate’ is recognised on the national market as a gourmet product, characterised by careful preparation, a high price and discerning consumption. It can be found in food stores that specialise in regional specialities, in different parts of Spain, and in restaurants and other establishments that serve food.
The link between ‘Mojama de Barbate’ and the geographical area derives from the prestige and reputation the product has acquired due to the area’s fish salting tradition. It is an area where tuna has been fished for centuries and is still fished today and where know-how resides in the artisanal preparation methods, based on knowledge and experience handed down from one generation to the next.
The whole coast of the Gulf of Cádiz has a long fishing and tuna salting tradition, which dates from the times of the Phoenicians and the Tartessians, who taught the fishing techniques to the early inhabitants of the area, and there are references to catching tuna in a maze of nets that date back to that time.
Later the Arabs improved the design of the nets and introduced the almadraba (in Andalusian Arabic almadraba means ‘place where one strikes or fights’), a technique that involves catching the fish in a maze of nets set near the coast, where the tuna pass on their way from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean to spawn.
Over a span of almost ten centuries, various classical authors left numerous accounts of the almadrabas in the Strait of Gibraltar and the abundance and great size of the tuna caught in the area, describing their capture in the maze of nets in great detail. They also told how the fish were traded all over the Mediterranean, emphasising their high nutritional value and culinary qualities.
The tuna salting and processing industry already prospered in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica. Under the peoples who subsequently settled in the south of Spain, the fishing industry continued and flourished and it is still there today, preserving the traditional, artisanal methods.
In the geographical area where ‘Mojama de Barbate’ is produced, the traditional processing industries are still in operation and activities are organised for professionals in the catering and tuna sectors, tuna lovers and the general public, such as the Semana Gastronómica del Atún (Tuna Culinary Week) organised by Barbate Council, where guests from the world of food and drink perform cookery demonstrations or ‘showcookings’, and visitors can taste traditional bluefin tuna dishes, which are an important feature of the cuisine of this part of the Cádiz coast. The event also includes other activities such as cookery competitions and the Best Tapa Competition, where contestants seek to produce the best bluefin tuna tapa.
Mojama is the most important salted tuna product and the industry that prepares it using distinctly artisanal methods has been developed by small and medium-sized family companies, run by the founder or his descendants, which has enabled the most traditional production methods to be maintained, incorporating only those new methods that improve food safety and permit comprehensive control of the production process, in the pursuit of enhanced quality.
To prepare the product, specialised knowledge and experience are required at every stage of the process: cutting up the fish, removing the loins used to make ‘Mojama de Barbate’, making the cuts in the right places, salting, where the skill lies in knowing how much to salt, then washing, which has to be done in a controlled manner to ensure that the excess — and only the excess — salt is eliminated, and finally drying, which takes place in optimal conditions due to the local microclimate, either naturally or in tunnels designed for that purpose.
The product’s reputation in the culinary world is evidenced by numerous publications, notably the Inventario Español de Productos Tradicionales published in 1996 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, a national government department, and the research published by the Fundación Unicaja, entitled Catalogación y Caracterización de los Productos Típicos Agroalimentarios de Andalucía, Volume II (2006), which describe mojama as a traditional Andalusian product that is produced mainly in Barbate (Cádiz) and Isla Cristina (Huelva).
On 30 August 2009 the national newspaper El País published a food article entitled ‘Sal para la vida’ (Salt for life), which said that:

‘Today, developed countries continue to salt fish, because it gives the fish a delicious aroma. Spain has some world-class products, such as Santoña anchovies and Mojama de Barbate.’

The food and drink section of La Mar de Cádiz, a guide to the province, says: ‘The food and drink of the Cádiz coast is as rich and varied as the land itself, ranging from the wines of Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María to the local fried fish and Mojama de Barbate, making it one of the best-loved cuisines in Spain.’
The reputation of ‘Mojama de Barbate’ is evidenced by numerous references on the internet, for example:
The online Guía Interactiva de Restaurantes de Cocina Marinera (Interactive Seafood Restaurants Guide) endorses its reputation: ‘One of the best-known salted products is mojama de atún (typical of Isla Cristina and Barbate, Andalusia’s main producers)’.
‘Mojama de Barbate’ is on the tapas menu of the Buentrago restaurant, which has several establishments in Seville.
The inauguration of the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) held in Madrid featured a tasting of ‘Mojama de Barbate’.
Various publications in the province of Cádiz report on tastings of ‘Mojama de Barbate’ that take place during the semana del atún (tuna week).
The tourist guide to Los Caños de Meca specifically mentions ‘Mojama de Barbate’ as a typical local product.

Mojama de atún extra de Barbate can also be found on the menu of the Alcaravea Restaurant.
There is an article in the Andalucía online newspaper attesting to the reputation of ‘Mojama de Barbate’ — ‘Barbate (Cádiz) has a very varied cuisine based on seafood, and specialities include “Mojama de Barbate”’ — and describing it in detail.
‘Mojama de Barbate’ also features in the Guía de la provincia de Cádiz (Guide to the province of Cádiz), as a typical dish of high nutritional value described as ‘succulent’.
Regarding the use of the name in everyday language, an article in the ABC de Sevilla newspaper of 7 August 2000 featured the expression ‘… tiesos cual mojama de Barbate o de Isla Cristina’ (an expression meaning ‘completely skint’).

Publication reference of the specification

(the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation (2))
The full text of the product specification can be found at:
http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/agriculturaypesca/portal/export/sites/default/comun/galerias/galeriaDescargas/cap/industrias-agroalimentarias/denominacion-de-origen/Pliegos/Pliego_mojama_barbate.pdf
or via the homepage of the Consejería de Agricultura, PESCA y Desarrollo Rural

(http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/agriculturaypesca/portal), by following the navigation pathway: ‘Industrias Agroalimentarias’/‘Calidad y Promoción’/‘Denominaciones de Calidad’/‘Productos derivados de la pesca’. The specification can be found under the name of the Quality Designation.


(1)  OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.

(2)  See footnote 1.