Prosciutto di San Daniele PDO is a culinary product which has its roots in a centuries-old tradition, based on expertise and craftsmanship which over time has remained virtually unchanged.
Only two ingredients have ever been needed for its production, hand-picked Italian pork legs and sea salt, combined with the specific microclimate of San Daniele del Friuli, the key element in the ageing process.
Prosciutto di San Daniele is a cured meat recognised by the Italian State as a ‘Designation of Origin’ product since 1970 with law no. 507 and by the European Union as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product since 1996.
What is PDO status
Protected Designation of Origin, better known by the acronym ‘PDO’, is a mark of legal protection which is given by the European Union to agricultural or food products with specific qualitative characteristics that crucially and exclusively depend on the region in which they are produced, which is also often from where they take their name.
This identifies a product from a specific place, region or – in some exceptional cases – country, whose quality and characteristics are attributable to a particular geographic environment and its intrinsic natural, environmental, climatic and human factors, which includes agricultural techniques developed over time, and whose production phases are carried out in that demarcated geographical area, so as to obtain a product which cannot be replicated outside of the determined production area. Currently, 578 products have this recognition, of which 170 are agri-food products and 408 are wines.
The PDO denomination was established together with the PGI denomination in 1992, thanks to the EEC regulation 2081/92 issued by the European Community and which initially only included agri-food products, not wines and alcoholic beverages; these two categories were included among these geographic denominations protected with the PDO mark in 2011. Furthermore, the PDO mark is easily recognisable by the yellow and red colours which distinguish it from the other denominations.
Why is Prosciutto di San Daniele a PDO product
Prosciutto di San Daniele PDO is an expression of a history handed down through generations, strongly connected to its territory of origin. In San Daniele del Friuli, it is precisely the particular you breathe which makes this product one-of-a-kind and unparalleled. San Daniele is, in fact, closely linked to its territory of origin which gives it its name: it is a well-defined territory whose unique climatic characteristics are essential to developing the prosciutto’s certain je ne sais quoi. It is precisely for these reasons that Prosciutto di San Daniele can proudly bear PDO mark.
San Daniele PDO is the result of a long process which adheres to the requirements of the Product Specification, starting with pigs raised in ten regions of Central and Northern Italy (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Tuscany, Marche, Abruzzo and Lazio).
Therefore, the Protected Designation of Origin protects the quality and authenticity of Prosciutto di San Daniele, ensuring that it is produced following specific rules and according to traditional techniques.
The checks along the supply chain
The Product Specification, which is laid down by the PDO and also includes a whole series of checks, is a fundamental tool not only for protecting the product and the San Daniele PDO brand, but also the consumer. In fact, the Specification was recently revised in relation to the scientific aspects of the production process and the challenges that the sector is being called upon to address, such as animal welfare, environmental sustainability and the protection of the brand. All players in the PDO supply chain, namely breeders, butchers and producers, must comply with that laid down in the Specification and follow its principles: only in this way is it possible to guarantee the quality production of a healthy and genuine food, an expression of the highest standards of a controlled and traced supply chain.
These standards are subject to checks, not only by national authorities, but also by a control body known as IFCQ Certificazioni. This body is responsible for verifying and certifying agri-food products with the PDO and PGI mark, ensuring that they are compliant with the geographical indications and that they accurately implement the requirements stipulated by them.
Traceability of San Daniele PDO
The traceability of San Daniele PDO begins with the farms, where the history of each pig is documented according to strict criteria and certified by tattooing the hind legs to ensure their origin. Then, the workers in the slaughterhouses must assess that the animals coming from the PDO network of farms are in line with the required specifications in terms of weight, age and characteristics; after the assessment and selection process, they then are responsible for sending the fresh legs to the prosciutto factories. Only the legs that pass the compliance checks can be sent to the processing and ageing process. As per the Specification, the thighs can only be processed in the Consortium’s thirty-one prosciutto factories, which are all located within the municipality of San Daniele del Friuli.
Therefore, the PDO guarantees consumers an authentic and high quality product, ensuring the identity of the production of Prosciutto di San Daniele and the origin of the product.
