Nuremberg gingerbread and bratwurst are world famous. Like other regional specialties, they enjoy special protection from the EU. But now an advance from Brussels is weighing heavily on the manufacturers’ stomachs.
A move by the EU Parliament to create more transparency for regional specialties is upsetting the manufacturers of Nuremberg gingerbread and bratwurst. According to the plans, they will in future indicate the origin of the ingredients on products if they do not come from the same country as the specialty.
Such a regulation is difficult to implement and devalues traditional delicacies, said the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI) and the Nuremberg Bratwurst Protection Association. The affected companies would face a lot of bureaucratic effort and enormous costs.
More than 80 specialties affected in this country
According to BDSI, more than 80 specialties have protected geographical indication status in Germany, including, for example, Aachener Printen, Dresden Christstollen and Swabian Spaetzle.
The Nuremberg manufacturers are also annoyed that, in their view, the initiative does not take into account the history of the origins of Nuremberg gingerbread and bratwurst. Their tradition goes back to the late Middle Ages, when Nuremberg was an internationally important trading center. This made it easy to get exotic ingredients for gingerbread such as cinnamon, cloves or almonds. According to the Nuremberg Bratwurst Protection Association, pig farming has always been almost impossible in the city, so the meat has been imported for centuries.
Source: Stern
