The European Commission approved on Thursday the addition of a traditional Romanian smoked fish to the quality register of Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).

The Novac afumat din Tara Barsei is a smoked fish fillet obtained from the bighead carp species. Old salting and hot smoking techniques are applied to create this product.

The new denomination will be added to the list of 1,390 products already protected in the EU.

Romania already had three products with EU protection, namely the Sibiu Salami – which got the protected geographical indication (PGI) in the EU in February last year, the Ibanesti Cheese – protected designation of origin (PDO) since March 2016, and the Topoloveni Plum Jam – protected geographical indication since 2011.

The Romanian authorities also want to get EU protection for two other products, namely the Plescoi sausages (Carnatii de Plescoi) and the smoked Danube shad (Scrumbia de Dunarea afumata), according to the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Madr.ro)