FOLLOWING Skalický trdelník, Slovenská bryndza and Slovenská parenica, Slovakia has had another food product awarded protected status within the European Union (EU). On September 25, the European Commission registered several more traditionally made European food products, including Slovenský oštiepok, in a move intended to prevent them from being copied by food manufacturers outside the regions where they have historically been made, the Official Journal of the EU reported.
Slovenský oštiepok, which is now on the register of protected geographical indications (PGI), is a half-fat semi-hard cheese, which may be steamed or unsteamed and smoked or unsmoked. The basic raw material used to produce it is sheep's milk, a mixture of sheep's and cow's milk, or cow's milk. Slovenský oštiepok is produced either directly at a salaš (a small-scale mountainside sheep farm), using the traditional farm-based method of production, or at dairies, using the industrial method. It is characterised by its special shape, that of a large egg, pine cone or ellipsoid with decoration.
