AOP meats, in a territory guaranteeing quality

There are only 12 meats in France that have the AOP label, Protected Designation of Origin. Spotlight on these excellent products.

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The salt meadow lambs of the Bay of Somme, here on pasture near Crotoy, are one of the 12 AOP meats in France grouped together within the same federation, the FEVAO.  (FRED HASLIN / MAXPPP)

If I tell you poultry from Bresse, beef from Charolles, black pork from Bigorre or lamb from the salt meadows of Mont-Saint-Michel, all of these sectors have the common point of being AOPs. 12 meats are thus grouped within the same federation, the FEVAO, exceptional meats because a protected designation of origin requires certain criteria, as explained by the president of the FEVAO, also boss of the Basque pork sector Kintoa , Michel Oçafrain:

“In the practices which link the product to its terroir, it is necessary to prove a very strong anchoring. It is the effect of the soil and the pastures which brings a typicality to the AOP meat. The other element is the knowledge -man to raise and feed the animals, and to maintain the plots. You have to take your time.”

Know the traceability of meat

Time indeed remains an irreplaceable ingredient for unique know-how, especially at a time when meat consumption is under debate. The FEVAO defends a reasoned tasting of these meats produced “at human height”. What some specialized restaurants also offer, such as Le Sévero, in Paris. Its owner, William Bernet, is a lover of local meats:

“It’s our label, to only offer excellent meat. What matters is the breeder, the breed, the territory. I have people who only eat meat at my house, they don’t don’t even buy from a butcher. They trust me and know the traceability of my meat.”

Sévero is so successful that William Bernet has opened two locations in Asia. And FEVAO, the AOP meat federation, will hold its general meeting on October 5 and 6, in the Bay of Somme.


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