Food Quality Magazine
ISSUE 01 | SUMMER 2014
EU Regulation n. 665/2014: “Mountain product”
Cesare Varallo, foodlawlatest.com
This Regulation, implementation of
Regulation (EU) 1151/2012 (“quality
package”), establishes the conditions necessary to use the optional
quality term “mountain product”.
In particular, in order to prevent
consumers being misled, it refers to
products of animal origin (Article 1),
feed (Article 2), apiculture products
(Article 3), products of plant origin
(Article 4), other ingredients (Article
5) and to the processing operations
that can be carried out outside of
the mountain areas, but not as far
as 30km from these areas (Article 6).
Article 1 - Products of animal origin
1. The term ‘mountain product’ may
be applied to products produced by
animals in mountain areas as defined in Article 31(2) of Regulation
(EU) No 1151/2012 and processed in
such areas.
2. The term ‘mountain product’ may
be applied to products made from
animals that are reared for at least
the last two thirds of their life in
those mountain areas, if the products are processed in such areas.
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, the term ‘mountain product’ may be applied to products
made from transhumant animals
that have been reared for at least
one quarter of their life in transhumance grazing on pastures in mountain areas.
Article 2 – Feedstuffs
1. For the purposes of Article 31(1)
(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012,
feedstuffs for farm animals shall be
deemed to come essentially from
mountain areas if the proportion of
the annual animal diet that cannot
be produced in mountain areas, expressed as a percentage of dry matter, does not exceed 50 % and, in the
case of ruminants, 40 %.
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, as regards pigs, the proportion of feedstuffs that cannot be
produced in mountain areas, expressed as a percentage of dry matter,
shall not exceed 75 % of the annual
animal diet.
3. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to
feedstuffs for transhumant animals
referred to in Article 1(3) when reared outside mountain areas.
Article 3 – Products of beekeeping
1. The term ‘mountain product’ may
be applied to products of beekeeping if the bees have collected the
nectar and the pollen only in mountain areas.
2. By way of derogation from Article
31(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No
1151/2012, sugar fed to bees shall
not be required to come from mountain areas.
Article 4 – Products of plant origin
By way of derogation from Article
31(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No
1151/2012, the term ‘mountain product’ may be applied to products
of plant origin only if the plant is
grown in mountain areas as defined
in Article 31(2) of Regulation (EU) No
1151/2012.
Article 5 – Ingredients
When used in products referred to
in Articles 1 and 4, the following
ingredients may come from outside
mountain areas, provided that they
do not represent more than 50 % of
the total weight of the ingredients:
(a) products not listed in Annex I to
the Treaty; and
(b) herbs, spices and sugar.
Article 6 – Processing operations
outside mountain