Slavonski Med Becomes 19th Croatian Product Protected by EU

Slavonski med (Photo: mps.hr)

Slavonski med, or honey from Croatia’s eastern Slavonia region, is the latest Croatian product to receive the EU geographical origin label.

The European Commission has unanimously agreed that ‘Slavonski med’ will now have EU geographical protection status after a request for protection from the Ministry of Agriculture was approved in Brussels.

EU protected geographical status helps protect product names from misuse and imitation and helps consumers by giving them information concerning the specific character of the products.

Slavonski med (Slavonian honey) is honey produced by native grey honeybees (Apis mellifera carnica, Pannonian subtype) from the nectar of melliferous plants or the secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, combine with specific substances of their own, store, dehydrate, and deposit in honeycomb cells to mature within the geographical area of Slavonia.

According to its mode of production, Slavonski med is comb honey, chunk honey or cut comb in honey and extracted honey. According to the EU bulletin, Slavonski med is:

1. black locust honey

2. linden honey

3. rapeseed honey

4. sunflower honey

5. chestnut honey

6. blossom honey

7. Hungarian Oak honeydew honey

The common characteristic properties of Slavonski med having an influence on the quality of the product are percentage water content and quantity of hydroxymethylfurfurals (HMFs).

Slavonski med is at most 18,3 % water and the maximum amount of HMFs is 16,5 mg/kg. Another specific feature of ‘Slavonski med’ is the presence in it of pollen from plant species in the Brassicaceae family, Robinia spp. and the Rosaceae family, as either secondary pollen (at least 16 %) or minor pollen (up to 15 %). The amount of sucrose in ‘Slavonski med’ is less than the prescribed values.

Slavonski med (Photo: mps.hr)

Slavonski med is the 19th Croatian product which has been protected, others include pršut from Dalmatia, Drniš, Krk and Istria, olive oil from Cres, Krk, Solta and Korcula, mandarins from Neretva, Poljicki soparnik, sour cabbage from Ogulin, Kulen from Baranja and Slavonian, cabbage from Varazdin, salt and lamb from Pag, turkey from Zagorje and potatoes from Lika.