The European study on Mountain food products is entering its final phase

IPTS assembled on September 10and 11 in Andalucia ISARA, Euromontana and UHI to discuss the draft final report they submitted on September 5th, which covers aspects as varied as production volumes, location of production and processing stages, production costs, production prices, perception by consumers and retailers, importance of official quality signs and mountain reserved terms, producers opinions on existing labelling schemes...

The report elaborated by ISARA, Euromontana and UHI, including a literature review of scientific work undertaken until now, a survey and data treatment regarding PDOs/PGIs, is only one part of the larger study. The latter also includes:

• an analysis of production costs undertaken by University of Parma,
• case studies on Mountain Milk (France, Austria),
• a case study on mountain olive oil (Spain),
• a legal study on current labelling practices using the mountain or related terms assessing their legitimacy,
• and own work carried out by IPTS on, inter alia, data analysis regarding outputs of mountain farming by sector and farm-gate prices.

This work is the most comprehensive compilation of existing knowledge and data analysis on mountain food products carried out ever. It aims at informing the development of implementing rules governing the setting-up of the optional quality term « mountain product ». The report should be finalised by November 2012 and its publication is foreseen for the beginning of 2013 at the latest.

Euromontana will examine the opportunity to organise a dissemination event where the results of this study would be presented towards members, decision-makers and signatories of the European Charter for mountain quality foods. Ten years after the European Mountain Convention of Trento, which had raised the issue of the valorisation of mountain products, and 7 years after the launch of the European Charter for Mountain Quality food products at the European Parliament, progress achieved require a substantial meeting.

The IPTS took this opportunity to organise a field visit in the Sierra de Segura, in the area of Jaen, which produces a significant proportion of the global olive oil. Fully covered with olive trees, the mountains of Sierra de Segura are an ideal environment for the production of the finest quality olive oil. Cultivated and harvested under optimum conditions, this mountain olive oil shows a higher content in polyphenols, which confers it much appreciated organoleptic and physico-chemical properties. We have been able to visit several companies occupying different market segments :

• a private company targeting a very high quality niche segment, and currently sucessfully diversifying towards cosmetics,
• a producer cooperative ensuring higher volume production with a diversified range of quality levels,
• and an organic olive oil cooperative, which also uses its production centre as a cultural and pedagogic site.

This visit has brought a lot of interesting practical information on the mountain olive oil sector. This information will be included in the specific case study on mountain olive oil.

All pictures on this page by F. Santini ©