Slovenia and Croatia jointly protect Istrian prosciutto
Brussels, 14 October - The European Commission has awarded an EU-wide protected designation of origin status (PDO) to Istrian prosciutto following a joint bid by Slovenia and Croatia to protect this type of dry-cured ham from the Istria region.
Kromberk.
Prosciutto ham.
Photo: Marko Cencič/STA
Istarski pršut in Croatian or istrski pršut in Slovenian is only a second food product in the EU jointly protected by two countries, following Polish and Lithuanian honey, which was registered in 2012.
Croatia first applied for the PDO status for Istrian prosciutto on its own, but Slovenia protested against the move before the European Commission, after which the two neighbouring countries agreed to file a joint bid.
Slovenia has so far protected 23 agricultural products with the three EU labels known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI) and traditional speciality (TSG).
The list of registered products from Slovenia includes among others Bovec, Nanos and Tolminc cheeses, extra virgin olive oil from Istria, forest honey from Kočevje, prleška tunka cured meat, belokranjska pogača bread, idrijski žlikrofi dumplings from Idrija, prekmurska gibanica cake from Prekmurje and Piran sea salt.