Prosciutto di San Daniele: the Consortium updates the Dop

The Consortium itself announced the news and presented the new PDO production regulations, updated with the aim of specifying even better some decisive aspects of production to guarantee the protection of the brand and the consumer. This result is the result of a long process of comparison and of an inter-professional working table started in 2018 by the Consortium with all the subjects that make up the supply chain in order to share and define more stringent parameters with a view to further improving quality.

 

While maintaining the original basic principles set out in the document dating back to 1994 (and revised with minimum changes in 2007), the new text of the Disciplinary Regulations has in fact been revised both in terms of scientific aspects and in some phases of the production process, without neglecting the rules related to animal welfare, the methods of labelling and the regulation of the use of the consortium logo.

 

New is the introduction of a maximum weight of 17.5 kg and a minimum weight of 12.5 kg for fresh legs used in the preparation of Prosciutto di San Daniele; equally new is the limit set for the weight of cured ham (maximum 12.5 kg, minimum 8.3 kg). The curing period is also updated, from 12 months to 400 days; the range of salt content is also restricted (not less than 4.3% and not more than 6%).

 

As a preliminary requirement of compliance, the new Specification clarifies the genetic characteristics of the pigs admitted to the PDO with the indication of the lists of suitable and unsuitable genetic types. This clarification has become necessary in the light of recent developments in the field of genomic research and is aimed at making an increasingly stringent control of all possible combinations for reproductive crossbreeding, as well as specifying the prohibition of the use of genetic types not indicated in the Disciplinary. At the same time, a genetic database drawn up directly by MIPAAF has been introduced for a more effective control action with anti-fraud and anti-counterfeiting purposes of the genetic type.

 

It was also necessary to increase the maximum carcass weights (and, consequently, the weight of live pigs) as a result of the evolution over the years of the pig population reared in Italy, whose body mass has grown naturally as a result of improved breeding conditions, more appropriate feeding and optimal health conditions for their growth. Finally, another important aspect of this innovative updating of the regulations governing the production of Prosciutto di San Daniele concerns the feeding of the pigs that are part of the PDO circuit: further attention to their welfare translates into a diet based on vegetables and rich in noble grains, but also into an increase in the quantities of cereals and soya, useful for improving animal health.

 

Identikit of Prosciutto di San Daniele PDO.

 

A turnover of 330 million euros with a production of almost 2.8 million hams in 2018; a stable growth in sales across the border, with an overall increase in double-digit exports (10%) to non-EU countries in the first six months of 2019, especially to Canada and Japan; a production chain with 3,927 farms, 116 slaughterhouses and 31 factories; a Protected Designation of Origin product that best represents the Italian style. It is one of the best-known symbols of Made in Italy agri-food products in the world, whose manufacturing process is the result of a tradition that has its roots between the 11th and 8th centuries BC.

 

Source: Press Office Consorzio del Prosciutto di San Daniele Dop