Many lovers of cured meat delicacies were unpleasantly surprised in mid-February by the news of a shortage of Istrian prosciutto that carries the authenticity designation. About 2000 pieces are produced annually, and currently, only 500 remain. In Istria, 20,000 ordinary Istrian prosciuttos without the authenticity designation are produced each year, which do not adhere to strict breeding rules, as authentic Istrian prosciutto requires special fattening conditions and a specific type of pig that comes only from the Istria region and some parts of Slavonia.
The emergence of African swine fever primarily in Slavonia has put the supply of authentic Istrian prosciutto in question due to the strict measures that must be implemented in production. This has thrown small producers into despair, as they do not have the conditions to implement separate production lines.
For authentic Istrian prosciutto, meat from certain breeds from their own breeding is used, which are fattened with feed grown in that area to reach at least 160 kilograms and be at least nine months old. Therefore Paolo Jelenić, president of the Istrian Prosciutto Association and owner of Pršutana Jelenić (Jelenić d.o.o.) from Žminj, notes that with the emergence of African swine fever in Croatia in areas where the main fatteners of pigs for prosciuttos with the authenticity designation are located, the association of Istrian prosciutto producers has found itself in difficulties due to the takeover and processing of hams.
– Due to the size of the production facilities, i.e., the prosciuttos, which are mostly family-owned, they could not comply with the enhanced conditions of the standard operating procedure (SOP) prescribed by the veterinary service. As a result, in the production season 2024/2025, no registered Istrian producer had raw material input for the production of prosciutto with the authenticity designation. This means that by the end of 2026 and in 2027, that prosciutto will not be on the market, but the prosciuttos will only have their prosciuttos without certification. Therefore, the Prosciutto Association, Istria County, and the Agency for Rural Development of Istria (AZRRI) in Pazin are soon launching a system for breeding a limited number of pigs for the production of Istrian prosciutto in the Istria County area, all to preserve the hard-won designation for the only prosciutto in the country that has the strongest type of protection, the authenticity designation – emphasized Jelenić.
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We will therefore be without protected Istrian prosciutto for some time due to challenging production. But it is important to say that small producers do not actually strive for larger quantities so that Istrian prosciutto remains a special cured meat delight. It was precisely Istrian prosciutto, which is also called the Istrian violin due to its shape resembling that musical instrument, that was decisive for the establishment of Pršutana Jelenić in 1999. That year, Jelenić emphasizes, the story of protecting Istrian prosciutto with the authenticity designation began, for which one of the contributors was Jelenić’s late uncle, Dr. sc. Romano Božac, a professor at the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb. He gave the idea to Jelenić’s parents, Vanda and Branko, to start the production of Istrian prosciutto, which at that time was very scarce in Istria, at least in terms of registered producers. Vanda Jelenić thought that they could repurpose the abandoned old house in Sveti Petar u Šumi, which she inherited from her father, into a production facility.
All about the plans for relocating to a larger facility, their brands Istrian prosciutto and Pršut Jelenić, revenues, and the company’s operations can be read in the new issue of the printed and digital Lider.
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The article is available in printed —
