- As pointed out above, one of the most important tasks
under the responsibility of this Board is that of encouraging and monitoring
the quality of the sheltered product. To perform this mission two great
working lines have been started:
- Securing Traceability of the Product
This means tracking of the whole process, from the birth of the animals
to the obtaining of the final product sheltered by the Indication. It
is carried out by observers of the own Board, in three stages or control
points:
The first means the documentary control and the strict meeting of the
stipulated in the current regulations regarding identification and movement
of animals belonging to the farms registered in the Board.
The second is performed at slaughterhouse level: there, a technician
from the Regulating Board will wrap around the corresponding forelegs
a numbered seal to allow later matching of those pieces with the original
animals. The third takes place in the meat factory, and consist in the
placing (before personnel from the Regulating Board) of a numbered counter-label
on all those lacons qualified as fit. Said action is an indispensable
requirement, the lack of which would imply not allowing the commercialization
of the product to be sheltered under the "Galician Lacon"
Geographic Indication.
- Quality Enhancement and Control Program
This Regulating Board has contracted an external control agency to perform
the aforesaid program. It is targeted towards verification of the degree
of compliance to the regulations and to identification of the status
regarding those factors that brand the intrinsic quality of the product.
The proposed program is based on the analysis and testing (in an authorized
laboratory) of different kinds of samples chosen through a system which
guarantees the maximum representativity, and on the review of the status
of critical parameters in the different processes. The outcome of the
analysis will reveal the possible occurrence of the substances sought,
stressing most especially on those prone to disturb the normal growing
pace and development of the animals, as well as focusing on the origin
of the raw materials used for feeding the animals.
- Two additional aspects must be also considered:
- 1. The obligation for all those farms, slaughterhouses,
quartering houses and meat elaboration factories running within the
Indication to be registered in it -by meeting the requirements stipulated
in Chapter VII of our regulations- and undergoing the follow-up which
is performed periodically by personnel from the Board.
- 2. Control of the Galician Lacon at the selling point,
which includes features such as: price, conditions of keeping, stock
rotation, improper brand use, etc.
|
|
|
