IAN & SPAIN

The Spanish Cabinet on Friday approved a new color-coded system for different types of ham products. Introducing the new classification at a news conference, Agriculture, Food and Environment Minister Miguel Arias Cañete explained that it would include a trade description of the product and the breed of pig it comes from. Products from 100% pure Iberian pigs fed exclusively on acorns will be labelled with a black tag and with a red tag when mixed-race but fed on acorns. Ham from grazing pigs will be tagged green and fodder-fed pigs will receive a  white tag.

Among the new quality controls, legs of iberico cured ham below a certain weight will not be allowed to be sold, checks and inspections on curing times will be much stricter and minimum space requirements have been set for live pigs raised in fields and pens.

The most sought-after hams in the world, the best quality Spanish cured ham is made from a purebred, black-hoofed Iberian pig, which has been fattened on acorns as it freely wanders open fields.Once slaughtered, cured, and expertly sliced into nearly transparent slices, it marks the pinnacle of Spanish cuisine.

"Jamon iberico is a star produce of Spanish gastronomy. It is the flagship" said Agriculture Minister Miguel Arias Cañete. But the rules were "enormously confusing, leaving consumers in Spain and abroad puzzled about what they were buying”, he said.

Under the new rules, labels must tell shoppers if the product came from a pig that was 100 per cent Iberian or of a lesser percentage, depending solely on verified breeding records and how they were fed.