Meat from Danish Wadden Sea cows is to get the special ‘protected’ product status from European authorities.
Other foods that already enjoy protected status include Parmesan cheese and Champaign – foods that the EU says have distinct flavours and qualities from specific geographic regions.
On Monday officials said that beef from Wadden (wading) Sea cows, which graze on the grasses found in southern Jutland and the west coast of Denmark, would soon receive the status. Experts say that Wadden Sea beef offers a unique flavour due to the salt content of the grasses on tidal flats where they have grazed for nearly 1,000 years.
Andreas Andreasen said on behalf of a local farmers’ organisation, “It gives us a good stamp on a good product that we have. We sought this approval so that it could be known more widely. Chefs have told us there is a distinct difference in the meat’s taste from other cows – a more powerful taste,” he told The Guardian.
More than 1,000 products in Europe now boast protected status, including feta cheese, a name which Danish cheese makers had to abandon in 2006 after the protected status was awarded to Greek producers.