NEWS FEATURE facebook.com/westbr iton westbr iton.co.uk @westbr iton facebook.com/westbr iton westbr iton.co.uk @westbr iton 12 WEST BRITON THURSDAY OCTOBER 23, 2014 THURSDAY OCTOBER 23, 2014 WEST BRITON 13 Producers in Cornwall lick What is a Cornish their lips at surge in growth pasty today? ACCORDING to current legisla- tion, the following rules apply to the sale of Cornish pasties: employed three authentication Ian Trevithick, pasty maker at In July 2011, the treasured Cornish companies, plus local authorities’ Brian Etherington’s Meat Company Rec ipe: trading standards departments up in Scorrier, which sent 6,000 Cornish Short crust, rough puff or puff pasty received official protected and down the country. pasties to Festival Interceltique in p a s t r y. status, albeit with a three-year By July 2011, the Food Safety Act Brittany this year, said: “The PGI Diced or minced beef, sliced or transitional period. Now the time 1990 was updated to reflect the process has helped our sales diced potato, swede and onion. limit is up, Craig Blackburn chang es. immeasurably. We are fully behind Vegetable content must not be The new regulations stipulate that it.” less than 25 per cent. investigates whether the process for a product to be called a ‘Cor nish From making 100 pasties a day for Meat content of the pasty must has benefited Cornwall and pasty’it must be made in Cornwall to the company two years ago, he now not be less than 12.5 per cent. producers have complied a specific recipe and production produces up to 1,500 a day, helped by Seasoning to taste, primarily salt method and packaging must carry the four other staff. and pepper. Protected Geographical Indications Managing director Mark No other types of meat, veget- (PGI) logo, pictured right. Etherington added: “We are certainly ables, for example carrot, or any packaging containing the product. HE Cornish pasty dates If not, suppliers could ultimately going forward and we have got artificial additives are to be used back to the 13th century, face prosecution. expansion plans for the future as in the filling. Polic ing: but in the past 50 years has To give the seven non-Cornish we ’ve outgrown our premises. It is The pasties are D-shaped and Three product authentication become a victim of its own suppliers a chance to make these “When I bought the company we quite exciting.” crimped, either by hand or mech- inspectorate companies conduct s u c c e s s. changes, the Department for were baking one day a week,”he said. The company is starting online anically, to one side, and never on annual checks on registered pro- TIt has been copied and, some would Environment, Food and Rural Affairs “Now we are producing pasties six sales in two weeks and has “i n t e re s t ” t o p. ducers to make sure they comply say, its reputation tarnished as (Defra) set a three-year transitional days (a week). from more than one overseas client. There is no requirement for the with the new rules. national companies like Pukka Pies, period. “For a company of our size it is hard Fiona Rick, a director of Cornish raw ingredients to be sourced from Each member will receive their Greggs and Peter’s Food Service mass That period ended on August 12. to quantify the sole benefit of the PGI Premier Pasties in St Columb Major, IPa s t i e s within Cornwall, but they must be own certification number (by the produced pasties. The CPA, meanwhile, is rolling out other than to say that, certainly, the which makes 20,000 Cornish pasties a being made made, or “manuf actured”in the end of February) provided by the So, the county’s producers took a national numbering scheme – whole process really put the focus on day, said: “Over the past few years we c o u n t y. inspection body to display on pack- matters into their own hands, forming expected to be complete by February – Cornwall and the Cornish pasty.” have doubled our staff and premises, at Prima They can be baked anywhere in aging and any other point of sale the Truro-based Cornish Pasty which will allow consumers to track Mr Norton proudly started and started selling more Cornish the country. material when selling Cornish Association (CPA) in 2002, calling for every product. “expor ting”pasties across the Tamar, pasties outside the county and out of Bakeries in Pa s t i e s . protection of the product similar to So, after 12 years of work, was it as he puts it, for the first time this E u ro p e. Redruth L abelling: This unique number will trace that accorded Champagne and Parma worth it? ye a r. “This is not solely down to the CPA, The approved PGI symbol should each pasty sold directly back to the ham. Mark Norton bought Prima As a result, over the past few weeks but I do think that the PGI put be used at point of sale, or on any p r o d u c e r. The process involved a government Bakeries in Scorrier, Redruth, four he has taken on more staff at a time Cornwall on the map and it made p ro d u c t . ”She added that, far from Food Service appeared on sale on the According to the CPA, it is still too department, created two European years ago and is now producing 2,000 when many seasonal companies are people –retailers and wholesalers – promoting Cornish producers, many websites of major supermarkets. early to quantify the benefit without Commission (EC) directives and pasties a day and employing 50 staff. temporarily laying off employees. come to Cornwall direct to get the of the group’s clients wanted to re- A spokesman for the company said updated industry figures. brand their pasties and “sell them as it had “adhered fully with European But Ms Huxley says: “I don’t think their own”. Commission requirements,”adding: we can say yet with any certainty Since August 12, it appears, the “Unfortunately, certain website what the impact of the end of the seven non-Cornish suppliers have images do not seem to have been derogation will have on the Cornish renamed their products to comply updated in line with the required producers, although Cornish with the regulations. changes and older images have producers see it as a very positive ‘CriticsChoice’ Ruth Huxley from the CPA, said: remained in place.” thing. The Times2013 “We are not aware of anybody who, A Google search using the names of “One of the key benefits to Cornish since derogation (the three-year some of the other six companies, producers is that, in some cases, the period) ended, has been trading combined with the words ‘Cor nish products that were allowed the ille gally.” pasty’, also returned a long list of derogation just didn’t bear any Since July 2011, said senior outdated website listings. resemblance to a proper Cornish Cornwall Council trading standards Glitches aside, Mark Muncey, pasty, so the fact that they can no officer Julie Benson, her department longer use the name means that the had been investigating complaints – distinctiveness and the market with Full Orchestra as the ‘home’prosecuting authority – potential of the Cornish pasty is now Founder:VictorSmirnov-Golovanov from consumers around the UK, but FACTFI LE enhanced.” mostly in relation to these seven IThe largest Cornish pasty producers: But not every Cornish pasty exempt companies. Tamar Foods producer is happy with the new It has had no complaints since the G i n s te r s r ules. IAnn Muller from the Lizard and one We d19&Thu 20 Nov August deadline. Proper Cornish Pasties Company Ann Muller, whose family has been of her famous pasties. IPasty maker Ian Trevithick at Brian Etherington’s Meat But as the West Briton went to Crantock Bakery making pasties for generations in the w w w. w e s t b r i t o n . c o. u k / bu ya p h o t o Company in Scorrier, Redruth. press, Cornish pasties from Peter’s W C Rowe Lizard, started a Facebook page Cornish Premier Pasties against the PGI rules because they or indirectly associated with the War rens state that a Cornish pasty cannot be production of Cornish pasties, it was crimped on the top, contrary to her important for the preservation of IThe seven suppliers which underwent family traditions. these jobs but also the creation of jobs the three-year derogation - transitional An online petition was set up in in the future, that the Cornish Pasty Music: AdolpheAdam period to comply with new rules: support of her business called Stop Association was successful in IPeter’s Cornish Pasty (not made in Cornwall) still advertised online. COMING SOON Pukka Pies Ltd Barring Ann’s Pasties From Being obtaining PGI status for what is today Pork Farms Ltd sold As Cornish Pasties. one of the most iconic foods in the Shire Foods Ltd Ms Muller did not want to wo rl d . ” Fri21&Sat 22 Nov Northern Foods Plc comment. TO AQUA! At the factory of the biggest player Most supermarkets sell Greggs Plc Peter ’s Food Service Ltd in the Cornish pasty supply chain, Kerry Group Plc business is certainly booming. FACTFI LE Ginsters’600 staff make about one Value of the Cornish pasty industry in the much-loved food million Original Cornish Pasties each 2011 (latest available figures): GARY COCKERILL WILL week from their base in Callington.