EU sanctions the recipe for Romanian “mici” sausages

Newsroom 19/02/2014 | 11:40

The Romanian Meat Association says officials in Brussels have agreed that bicarbonate of soda, which gives spicy “mici” bullet-shaped grilled meat delicacies their springy texture, will be permitted by the EU, writes The Associated Press. Romanian food industry officials said Monday they have been lobbying Brussels since a ban was enforced last July on mici.

The Standing Committee on Food Chain of the European Commission will authorize the preparation of mici (grilled ground meat rolls) after the traditional Romanian recipe, notes Agerpres newswire. According to the new list of food additives that came into effect June 1, 2013, sodium bicarbonate was banned from being used in preparing mici, Sorin Minea, president of Romalimenta, said for Agerpres. He also mentioned that 10,000 tons of mici are consumed in Romania every year, but the black market probably accounts for 70 or 80 percent, Minea estimated.

The EU’s food safety committee will vote Thursday, February 20, on the additive, followed by a vote in the European Parliament, notes the Associated Press. Since the ban, the EU has allowed Romania to continue to produce “mici”, but not export them. Other European countries with similar sausages are expecting the same verdict. “A culinary staple in the Balkans, other variants such as “cevapcici” — eaten in the former Yugoslavia — and Greece’s “soutzoukakia” are also expected to be allowed to contain bicarbonate of soda”, adds the Associated Press.

Last year, the Romanian government sent to the European Commission a request formulated by the Romanian Meat Association asking for the inclusion of the mici recipe on the list of EU’s traditional recipes. The request comes one month before a European directive bans the production of mici under its current recipe, starting June 1st, Mediafax reports.

According to the directive, the use of sodium carbonates and other food additives used thus far in the preparation of the Romanian mici is banned from the composition of processed meat products. The EU directive concerns only industrially produced mici. The Romanian Meat Association already requested the European Commission to introduce the current mici recipe on the list of traditional ones as to allow Romanian meat processors to continue to use additives that are about to be banned.

Oana Vasiliu

 

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