‘We Did It All On Our Own’: Shepherds’ Organisation Secure Ġbejna Protection After More Than A Decade Of Hard Work
A voluntary organisation (VO) made up of eight Maltese shepherds was able to achieve something historic when they secured a prestigious protected designation of origin (PDO) label for the Ġbejna tan-Nagħaġ.
“It took us ten years to get here,” Daniel Borg and Publius Falzon, the spokesperson and president (respectively) of the Xirka Produtturi Nagħaġ u Mogħoż, told Lovin Malta.
Borg expressed sheer pride and joy to the news as this is officially Malta’s first protected food heritage product after ten years of hard work and intense research.
He emphasised that the VO, whose latest application was submitted in September, achieved this feat without any help from the government or any other entities.
“This is solely due to our own research, time, and money and it is a huge moment for Malta. It will preserve our culture, bolster the economy, and be written in our history books.”
Besides spending hours upon hours conducting thorough research and fulfilling the application requirements, the VO also forked out upwards of €1,000 to pay for the registration. They even had to fund an organoleptic evaluation which involves a scientific approach to assess food’s sensory attributes across the four senses.
For a product to be labelled PDO, every part of the production, processing and preparation process must take place in the specific region. This ensures quality and protects regional foods from mass-produced imitations.
This means that smaller, authentic ġbejna tan-nagħaġ producers will be able to access an open market, proving the label to be an economic opportunity for farmers, shepherds and the country at large.
Ġbejna tan-Nagħaġ will be on a list alongside Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, feta cheese, Parma ham, Champagne, Kalamata olives and Manchego cheese.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced the news of the PDO earlier today coming after years of negotiations within the European Union.
Are you excited to see the PDO label on locally and authentically produced Ġbejna tan-Nagħaġ?
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