Yesterday, the Italian Ministry of agriculture, food and forestry policies published the proposed amendments to the Parma Ham Production Specifications in the Official Journal of the Italian Republic, as submitted by the Consortium.

After obtaining the favourable opinion of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government, the assessment procedure by the Ministry began in January and has just been completed with a favourable outcome and the relevant publication in the Official Journal.

The Production Specifications are a true sacred text for a PDO, because they vouch for its identity. This is why, before making this choice, we carefully assessed the industry health conditions based on our strategic view for the future. And, after over twenty years, together with the other players in the supply chain, we came to the conclusion that some of the standards governing the production of Parma Ham must be revised and upgraded to the evolutions in the sector and in the market, as well as to the new requests and sensitivity of consumers. Our objective is to improve the quality level further characterizing our product’s identity in order to make it even more distinctive versus competitors. This is an important step in the history of Parma Ham and we must thank the Ministry for having supported and facilitated our procedure – said Vittorio Capanna, the President of the Consortium.

Indeed, the amendments to the Specifications cover all the links in the production chain starting from the characteristics of the raw material – i.e. genetics, pig weight and feeding, and characteristics of fresh haunches – all the way down to the finished product in terms of curing method, ham weight and minimum maturation extended to 14 months, quality assessment analysis parameters, selling method, pre-sliced product, etc.

After 60 days to allow any comments to be made, the Ministry will prepare the documents to be sent to the European Commission for its final approval.