Publication of an application for registration of a name 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: 2024-02-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
Subjects: Castile-Leon, Spain, consumer information, designation of origin, fresh meat, labelling, pigmeat, product designation, quality control of agricultural products




C_202401438EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2024/1438


8.2.2024






Publication of an application for registration of a name 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
(C/2024/1438)

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) within three months from the date of this publication.
SINGLE DOCUMENT

’Cochinillo de Segovia'


EU No: PGI-ES-02897— 19.1.2023
                  


PDO ( )PGI (X)

1.   Name(s) of PGI


               ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’
            
2.   Member State or Third Country

Spain
3.   Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1.   Type of product

Class 1.1. Fresh meat (and offal)
3.2.   Description of the product to which the name in (1) applies

The product is the result of the rearing of ‘white’ (non-Iberian) pigs, regardless of sex, born in the province of Segovia and the district of La Moraña in the province of Ávila, fed exclusively on their mother’s milk and slaughtered when they are no more than 35 days old.
Carcasses with the following characteristics are covered by the PGI ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’:






—


the carcass weight is between 4,0 kg and 5,8 kg (without the internal organs);










—


the carcasses are sold whole, with the head and without the internal organs, or as half carcasses or primal cuts;










—


the carcasses are well-shaped (not thin or elongated).










—


the outer colour is white, creamy or waxy, clean and homogeneous, with no bloodstaining or other extraneous colouring;










—


the colour of the meat is pink, pearly-white or pale red;










—


the smell is of the fresh meat of a young suckling animal;










—


the texture is firm, with no soft areas, but not hard.




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

The diet of lactating sows must comprise:






Crude protein


15 % minimum




Crude fat


4 % minimum




Crude fibre


5 % minimum




Ash


5 % minimum




Lysine


0,75 % minimum




The piglets are given iron, exclusively by oral means, on one occasion when they are one or two days old, with the maximum dose per animal being 120 mg.
3.4.   Specific steps in production that must take place in the identified geographical area

The animals must be born, reared and slaughtered, and the carcasses dressed and cut, in the defined geographical area.
Cutting must take place in the geographical area defined in point 4, since it needs to be carried out soon after slaughter in order to prevent freshness from being lost or oxidation from occurring. This is considered to be a necessary and proportionate means of ensuring product quality and control.
3.5.   Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product the registered name refers to

The product is packaged immediately after cutting because it is necessary to preserve its quality and to provide a better guarantee of the authenticity of the cut product, which is more difficult to identify than when it is whole, and to ensure its traceability. Packaging must therefore take place within the defined geographical area.
3.6.   Specific rules concerning labelling of the product the registered name refers to

All carcasses and/or packages containing ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ meat released for consumption must bear a seal of guarantee containing, as a minimum, the logo of the designation including the inscription ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’, the Union symbol, the slaughter date and the identification number. In addition, the labelling of packaged cuts of ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ meat must include the date of packaging; if this requirement is not met, the product may not be marketed as ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’. The seal must be affixed in such a way that it cannot be re-used.
The logo to be used is as follows:





4.   Concise definition of the geographical area

The defined geographical area covers the entire province of Segovia and, in the province of Ávila, all the municipalities belonging to the Association of Municipalities of the district of La Moraña plus the following municipalities: Aveinte, Blasconuño de Matacabras, Blascosancho, Bohodón (El), Mingorría, Monsalupe, Pajares de Adaja, Pozanco, Santo Domingo de las Posadas, Santo Tomé de Zabarcos, Tiñosillos, Velayos.
5.   Link with the geographical area

The link between the geographical area and the product ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ is based on its reputation and specific characteristics of the product that derive from its method of production.

               ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ has a white skin and pink meat, unlike suckling pigs from other areas, whose skin is pink with dark reddish blotches and whose meat is darker.
These characteristics are due to a specific production method consisting of administering iron orally to the piglets in the first days of their lives.
This particular practice dates back to the 19th century, when piglets began to be reared, mostly for private consumption, with any surplus – those which their owners could not afford to rear until adulthood – being sold to restaurants in Segovia specialising in roast meat. Producers of piglets – small livestock farmers who reared these animals in pigsties adjacent to their homes or even in the courtyards of their own homes – would supply this mineral occasionally to their animals when they let them out into fields or the farmyard, where they would root around in the ground in search of food and end up chewing pieces of soil and mud,
with some breeders even giving them old bricks. These animals have an instinctive need to supply their bodies with the iron which they naturally lack from birth.
Over time, this specific knowledge peculiar to the location has evolved into the current practice of providing a small amount of iron to Segovian piglets, and only orally, whereas iron is injected during the production of piglets in other areas of Spain.
Another characteristic feature is that the piglets are fed exclusively with their mother’s milk, which means that, as they are suckling animals, they must be transported to the slaughterhouse as quickly as possible. This explains the link between ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ and the province of Segovia and the district of La Moraña, which is a small district of Ávila adjacent to Segovia: in the 19th century, given the limited means of transport available (mainly carts, mules or donkeys), suppliers of restaurants in Segovia specialising in roast meat were located within a radius of approximately 40 kilometres, in the areas where cereals were produced in abundance, which meant that no piglets were reared in mountainous areas; these problems of transportation made it hard to bring in the product from other places, which meant that it was a local product, concentrated in the province of Segovia and the district of La Moraña. This geographical distribution confirms the connection between pig farming and the production of cereals, which form the basis of the diet of lactating sows.
From the 1960s onwards, there was a marked boom in pig farming, with some farms specialising in the specific production of piglets to meet the rise in demand for suckling pig. This went hand in hand with the modernisation and adaptation of the cereal sector, which by then included the production of animal feed. Animal feed has proved to be essential in providing lactating sows with a nutrient-rich diet in order to ensure high-quality milk, which is the piglets’ only food.
Pig farms would produce only piglets to be marketed for roasting in traditional restaurants specialising in roast meat (‘mesones’), and when sows farrowed the farmers already knew what the piglets would be used for, which meant that they were reared in certain specific ways. The usual practice when rearing piglets is to remove all piglets from the sow at the same time, in which case some of them will be very large (known locally as cabeceras meaning that they are at the ‘head’ of the group), having suckled the teats that contain more milk, whereas others will be smaller and weaker, as they have received less milk (the colas or ‘tail end’). The result is that the carcasses vary considerably in weight (3-7 kg) and conformation. However, carcasses of ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ must have a homogeneous weight (4-5.8 kg) and come from well-conformed animals, which are neither thin nor elongated. This is achieved by weaning the largest piglets and leaving the rest with the sow so that they gain more weight and develop a good shape. This practice is still used today, with handling being a characteristic aspect of the rearing of piglets for ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ on holdings specifically devoted to the production of this product.
In the 1960s and 1970s suckling pig became a mainstay of Segovian gastronomy, which went on to become famous throughout the world. This was mostly the result of the boom in tourism and the promotion of ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ by the hospitality sector of Segovia, above all by the ‘visionary’ Segovian restaurateurs Cándido López, named ‘Mesonero Mayor de Castilla’ [Castile’s Top Restaurateur], and Dionisio Duque.
Both Cándido López and Dionisio Duque drew thousands of tourists to Segovia to eat suckling pig, including world leaders, artists, actors, writers, researchers, athletes, etc., who happened to be in Madrid. The restaurateurs would meet them in Madrid and take them to Segovia, as can be seen from the visitors’ books and the photographs displayed in the establishments.

               ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ is currently in high demand in restaurants in Segovia, and the traditional dish of roast ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people every year from all corners of Spain and abroad, in roughly equal numbers. In the work entitled El DORADO, el Cochinillo de Segovia en la cultura gastronómica [The ‘golden one’ – ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ in culinary culture] (2005) by the sociologist and historian of gastronomy Lorenzo Díaz, a winner of the Spain’s National Gastronomy Prize, it is written that: ‘Segovia has a great gastronomic heritage; its suckling pig can be enjoyed throughout Spain. Whether it is served oven-roasted or as a confit, its quality and taste are excellent’, and that: ‘Suckling pig is the gastronomic symbol of Segovia and has been referred to as an ‘innocent angelic delicacy’.
The product’s reputation is borne out by numerous references in the press, magazines and blogs at both national and international level. The The New York Times article ‘Spain’s Savory Suckling Pig’ highlights the link between suckling pig and the city of Segovia: ‘Segovia, a beautiful walled city perched above the surrounding plain, lays claim to cochinillo as its native dish.’ (Pringle, 1990).
Other quotations come from articles in newspapers like The Guardian, where it is written that ‘Segovia has history, proud Castilian hospitality and an unending supply of roasted suckling pig’ (Tremlett, 2006), and online magazines such as the Italian Innaturale, whose article ‘Cochinillo de Segovia – the pig that is cut with a plate’ describes the peculiar ritual: ‘Segovian suckling pig or “Cochinillo de Segovia”, is a typical Spanish dish. (...) The meat is so tender that it is cut with a plate to prove that it has been cooked perfectly.’
               ‘Il maiale Che Si Taglia Con Il Piatto’ [The pork that is cut with the plate] 2018).
The importance of ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ is shown by the fact that it is used at international events such as the Hay Festival, where it is always served roasted at the welcome session, and at the Cirilo Rodríguez press awards presented to correspondents from all over the world and the 3D Wire festival of animated films, where the prize-winners and finalists of both events are invited to cut the roasted suckling pig in the traditional way with the rim of a plate.
The ‘Los 5 Días de El Dorado’ [Five days of the ‘golden one’] festival showcasing suckling pig and Segovia’s culture, which attracts thousands of tourists every year, has been an annual event in Segovia since 2007.
In 2014 ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ won the ‘Mejor Alimento’ (best food) prize at the ‘Premios del Campo’ [countryside awards] event organised by ‘El Norte de Castilla’, Spain’s oldest newspaper.
Recently it was the star dish of the first episode of the sixth series of MasterChef, a very popular programme produced by the Spanish public television broadcaster RTVE, which was filmed outdoors at the foot of the aqueduct and broadcast on 29 April 2018, with the presenters – famous Michelín-starred chefs – referring to the characteristics of this product.
It should be noted that ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ is included in the ‘Inventario de Bienes del Patrimonio Cultural de Castilla y León’ (Inventory of cultural heritage assets of Castile and Leon) as a product that may be considered to be a ‘Bien de Interés Cultural’ (asset of cultural interest). It also appears in various official food quality catalogues: the ‘Inventario Español de Productos Tradicionales’ (Spanish inventory of traditional products) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1996) and the ‘Inventario de Productos Agroalimentarios de Calidad de Castilla y León’ (Inventory of agri-food products of quality of Castile and Leon) of the Government of the Autonomous Community of Castile and Leon (2001).
In addition to the recent references to the reputation of the designation ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’, the product has been referred to many times throughout history:
The first references to ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ date back to the middle of the 16th century: the Comentario sobre la primera y segunda población de Segovia [Commentary on Segovia’s first and second population] written by Garci Ruiz de Castro provides evidence of the consumption of suckling pig in the city of Segovia at the end of the 15th century.
The fact that piglets were produced around Segovia in the final decades of the 18th century is made clear by Eugenio Larruga in Volume XI of his Memorias [Memoirs], in which he brings together data providing evidence for the consumption of ‘lechones’ (suckling pigs), stating that, in the province of Segovia, ‘
               1 500 piglets are produced on a regular basis, each worth 50 reales, making up a total value of 75 000 reales. The number reared is increasing every year, as 1 100 were produced in 1787, 1 550 in 1788, and 1 920 in 1789. All the suckling pigs are eaten in the province...’.
In Cándido’s memoirs, entitled Yo Cándido. Memorias del Mesonero Mayor de Castilla [I, Cándido. Memoirs of Castile’s Top Restaurateur] (Flórez Valero J. A., 1987), he recounts how, when he first renovated his establishment, he discovered a whitewashed wall full of bills for roast suckling pig and lamb and a date: 1860.
In 1929, Dionisio Pérez, in the Guía del buen comer Español [Spanish good food guide], an inventory of traditional cooking in Spain and its regions, mentioned suckling pig as being one of the main products of Segovian gastronomy: ‘From Segovia ..., roast suckling pig ...’.
More recently, in 1947, the photographer Karl Wlasak wrote a heartfelt letter to the author Camilo José Cela, whom he had accompanied on the latter’s journey to the Alcarria, in which he told him that ‘the years that I spent around there were the happiest years of my life. The mountains, the cities, each of which had something special, like Segovia with its roast suckling pig ...’.
Ever since the heyday of the great restaurateurs Cándido and Duque, this product has become increasingly popular. Cándido was the first star chef in modern history and went on to become known as the ‘galán del NO-DO’ (the leading man) in the NO-DO newsreel that was shown before films in all Spanish cinemas, whereas Duque, from 1972 until the final episode in 2004, appeared several times on the RTVE programme ‘Un, dos, tres’ [One, two, three], which was watched in almost all Spanish homes, and he would always have ‘Cochinillo de Segovia’ with him.

Reference to publication of the product specification

https://www.itacyl.es/calidad-diferenciada/dop-e-igp/listado-dop-agroalimentarias


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


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/1438/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)