Strength2Food Researchers at the University of Zagreb and the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture marked the day of Croatian Protected Products by organising a conference entitled “Quality as a Value Added”. The event, held on the 12th April, promoted Croatian protected products.
The Republic of Croatia has a rich tradition in the production and preparation of speciality food products. Today, there are 22 Croatian products whose names are protected, i.e. registered with the EU as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) or Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). The Ministry of Agriculture is helping producers to promote their products and educating consumers on how to identify an authentic traditional product.
At the conference, various topics were discussed such as Expectations and Challenges in the Protection of Traditional Agricultural Products; Protection of traditional products – experiences from Istria; Product Ratings; Sensory assessment of food; Gaining a PDO or PGI designation.
Within the session “Marketing as Key to Success” – Strength2Food researchers Ružica Brečić, Marina Tomić, Martina Bituh and Ana Ilić presented results undertaken as part of WP5 on the economic, social and environmental effects of PDO and PGI designations, looking at the examples of olive oil and Dalmatian prosciutto. The researchers detailed how these designations are delivering benefits to producers in the form of additional value added and gave recommendations for marketing activities.
