‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ is a pure pork pâté made from pigmeat and pig offal. It must contain the following meat ingredients: skinned throats (≥ 25 %), liver (≥ 20 %), cooked rinds (≥ 5 %) and fresh onions (≥ 5 %). The meat ingredients and the onions must be fresh.

‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ is composed of several large, coarsely minced pieces distributed uniformly throughout a slice. Its colour is darkish, its texture firm and it has a pronounced taste of meat, liver and onions.

In addition to the ingredients which must be present in ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’, non-meat ingredients represent a maximum of 15 % of the total mass used, onions excluded: water (in all its forms), broth ≤ 5 %, sugars (saccharose, dextrose, lactose) ≤ 1 %, fresh whole eggs, fresh egg whites ≤ 2 % by weight of dry matter/stuffing, flour, starches ≤ 3 %, ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate (max. 0,03 % of the total mass used), jelly and pig’s G gelatin, salt: ≤ 2 %, pepper: ≤ 0,3 %, other spices (nutmeg, garlic, shallot, parsley, thyme, laurel), ciders and apple-based spirits (eau-de-vie, lambig, etc.), Chouchen, sodium or potassium nitrite, plain caramel for the browning.

The following ingredients, taken together, must not exceed 1,7 % of the total mass used: jelly and pig’s G gelatin, nutmeg, garlic, shallot, parsley, thyme, laurel, ciders and apple-based spirits (eau-de-vie, lambig, etc.), Chouchen, sodium or potassium nitrite.

During production, the diameter of the chopped pieces is varied according to the shape of the pâtés in order to achieve a satisfying appearance, whatever the size of the slice:

For packaging sizes ≥ 200 g => diameter of pieces ≥ 8 mm, For packaging sizes ≥ 200 g => diameter of pieces ≥ 6 mm.

The pieces are then mixed with the fine stuffing consisting of the minced meat and non-meat ingredients. The fats may be scalded and added warm to the stuffing. The stuffing is then packed and cooked in the oven or aseptically canned (packed in a metal can, a glass bowl or a jar).

In the case of products that are presented fresh, the preparation is covered with a fresh pig’s caul and cooked in the oven in order to obtain a characteristic crust. The preserved pâtés are browned in the oven until a brown crust forms and then set and sterilised.

In order to reduce the presence of animals bearing genetically unfavourable characteristics, the pigs must be free of allele RN less.

The meats used in the production of ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ must derive from pig carcasses weighing more than 80 kilograms. Carcasses that are too light and of low nutritional and technological quality are excluded.

In order to limit stress, which is detrimental to the quality of the meat and fat, the animals must be free of the allele making them sensitive to halothane and there must be a minimum period of two hours between the unloading of the animal at the slaughterhouse and the time of slaughter.

The specification does not refer to any specific requirements.

The production of ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ is carried out in the geographical area.

‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ is presented:

either fresh and packed in a terrine, under film or a modified atmosphere or under vacuum, or fresh and cut at the place of production, or fresh, sliced and packed under film or a modified atmosphere or under vacuum for self-service sale, or aseptically canned and packed in a glass bowl, a metal can or a jar.

Its weight varies between 40 g and 10 kg.

The labelling must include the following elements: the name of the PGI, ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’, the name and address of the certifying body and, if applicable, its certified collective mark pursuant to the rules governing its use, as well as the European Union PGI logo.

Historic Brittany corresponds to the traditional production area of ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’. Brittany has a centuries-long charcuterie-making tradition. In the days of Ducal Brittany in the 16th century, Breton families slaughtered their pigs and made their own cured meats.

Bretons have turned this distinctive factor to good use in the production of a wide variety of charcuterie products, in particular ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’, which made it possible to avoid wasting offal and meat leftovers from the cutting up of a pig.

The specificity of ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ is based on a specific quality and special know-how as well as on the product’s reputation.

‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ derives from a long tradition of pig rearing and from the processing of pigs at their place of rearing. Very early on, Brittany’s agricultural system started focusing on rearing, in particular on the rearing of pigs on each holding.

In this way producers learned to process all of the pieces of meat at their disposal. As production started immediately after the animal was cut up, the freshness of the product was guaranteed at a time when meat preservation methods were limited.

Traditionally, all the edible parts of the pig were used, which gave the product a particular texture and taste. The use of livers, considered a fine part of the pig at the beginning of the 20th century, soon became one of the principal characteristics of ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’, giving it a pinkish colour and a very specific taste.

Producers made use of the extensive range of vegetables grown locally by introducing onions into ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’. The presence of onions contributes to the product’s particular taste, because during cooking, the fruity taste of the onions comes to the fore and complements the meaty taste perfectly.

‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ results from the know-how of the producers, who have succeeded in giving the product special characteristics. In addition to the ingredients used, the coarse mincing of the meat pieces makes it easy to identify the product when it is sliced. The brown crust is linked definitively to the product through a traditional cooking process in communal ovens.

As regards the pâté’s reputation, several works classify ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ as a traditional Breton product or give its recipe. Many Breton guides, such as ‘Le Finistère gourmand 1997/1998’, contain references to the numerous Breton specialities and praise ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ in particular. Similarly, the ‘Terroir de Bretagne’ guide praises the Breton charcuterie tradition: ‘(…) Forty, even fifty, kilograms of “Pâté de Campagne Breton” are produced every week by a country charcuterie-maker. Each producer jealously guards his own recipe, although all adhere to the following basic proportions: 1/3 offal and 2/3 throat (…)’. ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ is referred to in numerous old and new cookbooks:

‘Gastronomie bretonne d’hier et d’aujourd’hui’ (S. Morand, 1965), ‘Les cuisines de France — Bretagne’ (M. Raffael and D. Lozambard, 1990), ‘Tout est bon dans le cochon’ (J. C. Frentz, C. Vence, 1988), ‘L’inventaire du patrimoine culinaire de la France, Bretagne — Produits du terroir et recettes traditionnelles’ (CNAC, 1994), ‘Le bottin gourmand’ 1996, ‘La France des saveurs’, Gallimard 1997, ‘Vivre ici, hors Bretagne’ 1994.

The product’s reputation is thus well linked to its name and attributable to the geographical area.

These factors taken together make it very easy to distinguish ‘Pâté de Campagne Breton’ from other pâtés and guarantee a typical method of production rooted in the product’s region of origin.