hiya bucks in Bourne End, Flackwell Heath, Marlow, Wycombe, Wooburn October 2018 | Page 40

Protecting
our pies
While working with the cheeses at Waitrose recently I
started noticing some of the products have initials after their
description. AOP, AOC, PDO and PGI all cropped up, so
I thought it was time to find out what was behind these
initials.
In England we use PDO to show
protected designation of origin and PGI
as protected geographical indication,
while in the European Union AOP
appellation d’origine protegee and
in France AOC appellation d’origine
controlee are used.
These labelling identifications protect
traditional agricultural and food products
against imitations, thus ensuring their
reputations are upheld. Our legislation
requires a PDO product to have qualities
and characteristics which are essentially
due to the region of production, and the
entire product must be produced and
processed within the region.
Grantham, Northampton and Stamford. The pies
must contain at least 30% meat and must have jelly
under the crust! Originally a pocket snack for hunters
chasing foxes, these delicious pies found favour in
London whilst being transported on the Leeds to
London stagecoach until the
1870s when they made their
way on cargo ships to Australia,
New Zealand and South Africa.
It was at this point that the
Melton Mowbray bake houses
thought about protecting the
name against imitations.
Stilton Cheese can be produced
in Derbyshire, Leicestershire
and Nottinghamshire. Sadly,
the village of Stilton is in
Cambridgeshire, so it can’t
produce the product which
accounts for 50% of the blue
cheese market.
A great example of this is Jersey potatoes
which have a unique taste due to their
growing conditions. The requirements
for a PGI are slightly less strict with the
reputation of the product claimed, as
long as part of the production process
is completed within the region.
In 2012 Newmarket sausages
became the 50th UK product
to receive PGI status. With a
minimum of 70% meat and
3% seasoning, these bangers
can only be produced in the
Suffolk town and surrounding
areas; the PGI status was a long
Some products have become so famous
time coming as once producer
and generic that they can’t be considered
refused to divulge its secret
for PDO status. Cheddar cheese is
known and produced throughout the world, so the cheese recipe to the European Commission!
produced in the Somerset village is not protected; a pity as Over the channel we know Champagne can only
the cave aged Cheddar from the gorge is amazing!
be produced within its region, otherwise it’s just
Melton Mowbray pork pies can only be produced in an sparkling wine!
area around Melton Mowbray, including Nottinghamshire, Parma ham was the first meat product to
At the end of your shop in branch, you’ll receive
a token to place in a box of the good cause
you’d most like to support. The more
tokens a cause gets, the bigger the
donation they receive. Each month
every Waitrose branch donates £1,000
(£500 in Convenience shops) between
3 local good causes that you choose.
gain protection back in 1996. The mandatory
requirements are it must be produced in Parma
A free cup of tea
or coffee everyday
as a myWaitrose
member.
Don’t forget, you can pick up copies of Hiya Bucks in the following Waitrose stores:
Amersham, Beaconsfield, Chesham, Gerrards Cross, Hazlemere and High Wycombe
40 |
hiyabucks.com