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DEFRA BACKS CORNISH PASTY PGI APPLICATION
The Cornish Pasty Association (CPA) is a step closer
to attaining PGI status for Cornish pasties after DEFRA confirmed that
it is backing its application and will be sending it to the European
Commission for final approval.
DEFRA's ministerial support is a significant landmark in the CPA's
application process and should secure the Association's bid to allow
only pasty makers that make Cornish pasties in Cornwall in a
traditional manner and to a traditional recipe, to use the term
'Cornish Pasty' in the branding and marketing of their products. The
Association exists to protect the quality and the reputation of the
Cornish pasty and to stop consumers being misled by pasty makers who
trade off the value of the name without producing a genuine product.
Angie Coombs of the CPA Committee believes that protection of regional
food products like the Cornish pasty is important both for consumers
and the rural economies and explains; "The importance of the Cornish
pasty industry to the wider Cornish economy cannot be stressed enough.
Over 86 million Cornish pasties are collectively produced by the CPA
members in Cornwall every year. All the members source a large
percentage of ingredients locally and are important providers of
year-round employment. It is estimated that 13,000 people are directly
or indirectly benefiting from the trade of the CPA members.
"Consumer demand is growing for Cornish pasties. Partly due to the
number of retail pasty outlets nationwide and also overseas, but also
because of increased interest from the supermarkets who have changed
their buying practises to allow for more regionalism. This application
is a genuine attempt to protect the consumer and encourage investment
in local economies. We believe it is not unreasonable to ask companies
to honestly label their products so that the consumer is guaranteed a
level of quality, recipe and origin when they purchase them."
A genuine Cornish pasty has a distinctive 'D' shape and is crimped on
one side, never on top. The texture of the filing is chunky, made up of
uncooked minced or roughly cut chunks of beef (not less than 12.5%),
swede or turnip, potato and onion and a light peppery seasoning. The
pastry casing is golden in colour, savoury, glazed with milk or egg and
robust enough to retain its shape throughout the cooking and cooling
process without splitting or cracking. The whole pasty is slow-baked
and no flavourings or additives must be used. It must also be made in
Cornwall.
PGI is one of three European designations to protect regional foods
that have a specific quality, reputation or other characteristics
attributable to that area. It acts like a Trade Mark and stops
manufacturers from outside of a region copying a regional product and
selling it as that regional product.
The ministerial decision to approve the CPA's PGI application will now
see the application being submitted to the European Commission for
final examination.
ENDS
Issue date: 25th
July 2008
NOTE TO EDITORS:
An omnibus survey conducted on September 2007 with over 1,000
participants found that:
- The majority of participants agreed
with the Cornish Pasty Association's PGI application, with considerable
support (79%) of the proposal to protect the term 'Cornish Pasty'.
- It was agreed by over half of those
interviewed (62%) that pasties described as Cornish but that are not
actually Cornish are deceiving consumers about their origin.
- 64% of all participants stated that
if they saw a food product on sale in the supermarket described as
being Cornish, they would expect it to be made in Cornwall.
More information about the CPA, its members
and the history of the Cornish Pasty is available at
www.thecornishpastyassociation.co.uk
Interviews with CPA
official spokespersons can be arranged by contacting:
Laura Medel / Mark Gee
Geometry PR
0117 929 1900 / 07880 621 661
laura@geometrypr.co.uk
/ markg@geometrypr.co.uk
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More news to follow in due course...
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