2 New Croatian Food Products Get EU Protection
- by croatiaweek
- in News
Two new products from Croatia protected at EU level (photo: ipress.hr)
Two more Croatian food products have today been given geographical origin protection status from the European Union…
The European Commission has approved the registration of two new product names from Croatia as Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) – Korčulansko maslinovo ulje (Olive oil from the island of Korčula) and Paška janjetina (Lamb from the island of Pag).
According to the description in EU documents, ‘Korčulansko maslinovo ulje’ is an extra-virgin olive oil obtained directly from the fruit of the olive tree solely by mechanical means. The basic raw materials for producing ‘Korčulansko maslinovo ulje’ are olives of the indigenous cultivars ‘Lastovka’ and ‘Drobnica’, either by themselves or in combination with each other and comprising at least 80 % of the product. Storage and bottling of the oil must also take place in the defined geographical area.
Korčula
The same documents describe ‘Paška janjetina’ (Pag lamb meat)as fresh meat obtained from the slaughter of young male and female suckling lambs born on the island of Pag of an autochthonous Croatian breed of sheep of the same name — ‘Paška ovca’ (Pag sheep) — bred solely on the island of Pag. The young, lightweight lambs slaughtered to produce ‘Paška janjetina’ must be no more than 45 days old.
Registration as a Geographical Indication (GI) gives wide protection to the registered names, functioning as an intellectual property right for products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. Names registered enjoy protection against any misuse, imitation or evocation of their name.
Turkey from the Croatian Zagorje breed, Poljički soparnik, pršut from Drniš, Krk, Istria and Dalmatia, extra virgin olive oil from Cres, mandarins from Neretva, sour cabbage from Ogulin, kulen from Baranja, and potatoes from Lika are other Croatian food products protected at EU level.
