CROATIAN PROTECTED AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD PRODUCTS, SLAVONSKI MED

SLAVONIAN HONEY PROTECTED DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN Slavonian honey ("Slavonski med") 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. The bees collect the nectar, transform it by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in honeycombs to ripen and mature. According to its mode of production, Slavonian honey is comb honey, chunk honey or cut comb in honey and extracted honey, and can be black locust honey, linden honey; rapeseed honey; sunflower honey: chestnut honey; blossom honey or Hungarian Oak honeydew honey. Slavonian honey is characterized by its freshness in terms of its quantity of hydroxymethylfurfurals (HMF) and its water content. The pollen spectrum, i.e. the presence in the secondary pollen of plant species from the families Brassicaceae, Robinia spp. and Rosaceae in most monofloral and polyfloral honeys distinguishes Slavonian honey from honey produced in other areas. Slavonian honey is not subjected to intensive heat treatment (pasteurization) but can be decrystallized at a maximum temperature of 43 °C, which ensures that its properties derived from the collected nectar of the specific flora (bee habitats) remain unaltered. Because of favorable climatic and soil conditions and the abundance of melliferous plant species in Slavonia’s pastures, meadows, fields and extensive forests, and the alluvial bogs and marshlands along the Sava, Drava and Danube rivers, native grey bees have been able to find abundant nectar and pollen pasture for thousands of years. Only in the Slavonian region do oilseeds provide honey pastures, for rapeseed honey and sunflower honey. Slavonian honey is extracted from the frame without heating, by centrifugation, to preserve its specific properties. The impacts and interaction of the local population, bees and landscape have created a unique agroecological area that allows Slavonian honey to stand out as pure varietal honey that has been recognized and appreciated for decades, both in Croatia and Europe. In addition to the special quality of Slavonian honey, the production of this product has a long tradition and reputation – the beekeepers in Slavonia continue a 130-year-old tradition of honey production. Many years of keeping bees in Slavonia have also led to the development and transfer of beekeeping know-how in the form of people's practices, skills, capabilities and knowledge. The production area covers the entire Slavonia region located in the northeastern part of the Republic of Croatia, bordered by three rivers, the Drava to the north (border with Hungary), the Sava to the south (border with Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the Danube to the east (border with Serbia) and part of the Hungarian-Croatian border between the rivers Drava and Danube. The western part of the Slavonian border extends to the area of the western administrative border of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County and the municipalities of Lipovljani and Jasenovac and the town of Novska. All stages of the production of Slavonian honey must be carried out in the specified geographical area. The name "Slavonski med" was registered at the level of the European Union on 9 January 2018 as a protected designation of origin, which protects it from any form of misuse throughout the European Union. Only those products that have been produced according to the Product Specification for the Protected Designation of Origin "Slavonski med" and for which the producers hold a valid Certificate of Conformity of their product with the Product Specification issued by an authorized delegated body may be placed on the market under the name "Slavonski med".