Division 3.5 Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product the registered name refers to

Tiroler Speck PGI must be sliced by a specialist trained in the production of Tiroler Speck PGI, known as a ‘Tiroler Speckmeister’, or be sliced under his or her supervision. During slicing, each finished batch must be given a sensory check to ensure there are no unwanted deviations in colour or taste. If there are defects (such as putrefaction, colour defects or the undesirable formation of a dry edge) immediate steps must be taken to adjust the control parameters (such as temperature, humidity or the duration of each step in the process) for the batches or units still in production. To enable this quality assurance to happen promptly, the activities for the production of packaged units of Tiroler Speck PGI are performed exclusively within the production holding or the group of holdings (i.e. a business holding with multiple sites, each performing individual stages of the production of Tiroler Speck PGI, or multiple postal addresses in the same district).

In order to avoid any detrimental effects from oxidation or drying out, or from microbiological spoilage due to mould growth, and thereby to avoid a loss of quality, the time between slicing and packaging it must be kept short, which is why packaging of Tiroler Speck PGI either unsliced, in sections or in slices, vacuum-packed or in a controlled atmosphere, must take place within the defined geographical area. However, if, due to specific arrangements, a period of storage is required before slicing begins, this must take place only in vacuum packaging or in a controlled atmosphere (initial packaging) to avoid loss of quality from further drying out or from microbiological spoilage due to mould growth. Tiroler Speck PGI is then either cut into pieces for domestic use or removed from the rind, prepared and cut into slices or made ‘kitchen-ready’, and either vacuum-packed or packaged in a controlled atmosphere (final packaging).

Tiroler Speck PGI can be sold unsliced to establishments within the food retail sector, provided that it is sliced in the presence of the purchaser and that this share of unsliced Tiroler Speck PGI does not exceed 10 % of the corresponding day's batch, and that, when checked as part of the slicing process (into sections, slices, cubes etc.), the remaining amount does not show any signs that the batch contains defects such as to suggest that the Speck to be sold unsliced is defective.