No fewer than five different bodies are holding their protective hands over one of the most valuable examples of cultural heritage in Germany.
The traditional production of the Nuremberg Rostbratwurst is subject to the protection of the Schutzverband Nürnberger Rostbratwürste e.V. protective association, the quality control carried out by the City of Nuremberg, the Bavarian office for health and food safety (Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit – LGL), the Bavarian state research centre for agriculture (Bayerische Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft – LFL) and the EU geographical indication, which protects the traditional production in Nuremberg from misuse.
The protective association – Schutzverband Nürnberger Rostbratwürste e.V.
The association is an initiative of Nuremberg bratwurst producers and the City of Nuremberg with the objective of safeguarding the authenticity of the product by ensuring the quality, recipe, typical characteristics and geographical origin of any products carrying the labels “Nürnberger Bratwürste” or “Nürnberger Rostbratwürste”. In 1998 the association submitted the recipe to the EU and protected status was granted on July 15, 2003. The city’s legal officer Dr. Hartmut Frommer also made sure that in addition to the recipe itself, the terms Nürnberger Bratwurst and Nürnberger Rostbratwurst were granted protected status.
The City of Nuremberg
The City of Nuremberg regularly carries out tests at all registered producers. Whether they are large-scale producers or small Nuremberg butchers, they must be located within the defined city area and are only allowed to label their products as Nuremberg Rostbratwurst if they also use the prescribed, protected recipe.
LGL – Bavarian office for health and food safety
The Bavarian office for health and food safety (Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit – LGL) is the central authority in the Free State of Bavaria for food safety, health, veterinary matters and occupational health and safety, as well as product safety.
LFL – Bavarian state research centre for agriculture
The Bavarian state research centre for agriculture (Bayerische Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft – LFL) is the knowledge and service centre for the agricultural sector in Bavaria, making its expertise on quality, ecological and economic issues available in a variety of ways.
EU geographical indication
The European Union’s comprehensive food labelling policy includes three systems to protect and promote geographical indications: 1. Protected geographical indication (PGI) 2. Protected designation of origin (PDO) and 3. Traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG).
The EU granted the Nuremberg Rostbratwurst the protection of the PGI (protected geographical indication). This protects Nuremberg’s expertise and ancient production tradition against exploitation and misuse, for example, from producers who do not have this expertise but would claim to produce authentic bratwurst. All of the production steps involved in a product with this designation have to be performed within the indicated area – in this case, the city boundaries of Nuremberg.
In order to ensure the highest possible transparency for consumers, the EU geographical indication is being communicated to the public by means of the campaign for Bavarian world culinary heritage (‘WeltGenussErbe Bayern’). This initiative provides information about the EU geographical indication and Bavarian specialities that have received this distinction.
