PGI Customer Letter

March 2011   

Dear Customer 

 

Good News for the Cornish Pasty 

 

You will likely have read or heard the news that the humble Cornish Pasty has recently achieved Protected Status under the EU initiative “Protected Food Names”. 

 

The precise title of the status achieved by the Cornish Pasty is “Protected Geographical Indication”, or “PGI” for short. 

 

What this means is that from now on only pasties made in Cornwall, to the traditional recipe as set out in the application for Protected Status, can be called “Cornish”.  Other food and drink products like Champagne, Parmesan Cheese and Cornish Clotted Cream have benefited from protection for some time and now the Cornish Pasty joins them. 

 

The application was made back in 2002 by the Cornish Pasty Association which is made up of over fifty Cornish based Cornish Pasty producers including, of course, Proper Cornish. 

 

I am a founder member and past Chair of the Association, and have worked tirelessly with other Board members to put together and make the application.  Working with the EU has been an exhausting experience, but the process leading to Protected Status is extremely robust where all interested parties and countries, quite rightly so, are given fair chance to comment or object. 

 

So what are the benefits of PGI?  Well, for Cornwall, it means that the integrity of the Cornish pasty recipe is protected by law from impostors forever, and the retailer when selling and consumer when buying a Cornish pasty will be guaranteed an authentic product made in Cornwall. 

 

For Cornish pasty producers more business is likely to gravitate towards the County which will be good for jobs and serve to strengthen our delicate rural economy, so many of our ingredients are sourced direct from local producers. 

 

The ingredients are now agreed to be potato, swede, onion, beef and seasoning wrapped in a “D” shaped pastry case.  The product must be crimped around the side. 

 

This basic recipe will have been followed by most Cornish pasty producers for many years, so very few pasties being made in the County will need to change. 

 

Proper Cornish has always followed the now registered recipe.  In fact, the  business was founded on what we Cornish always referred to as the “Proper Cornish Recipe” – hence our name – Proper Cornish. 

 

Proper Cornish has always purchased the best and freshest local ingredients; preparing them for use not only every day, but just before they are used in the product. 

 

Made Proper to Taste Proper – our products are the most authentic tasting products you can buy anywhere – we won the Best Cornish Pasty Category Award at the British Pie Awards 2010/11, and we are renowned far and wide for the passion and care which goes into every product. 

 

To help you to share these messages with your customers and to stimulate sales of our fabulous Proper Cornish pasties, a range of point of sale materials will soon be available so we will contact you again when they arrive. 

 

In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like more information, please give me a call or email and I will be glad to help. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 Phil Ugalde

Group Chairman

phil.ugalde@propercornish.co.uk