History

On 2nd March 1981 Roncal cheese was the first to be awarded the Mark of Origin of Spanish Cheeses by the Minister of Agriculture. Then, on 3rd July 1989, a Foral Order of the Navarra government Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Food approved the ruling of Mark of Origin and its Regulatory Council.

The main objective of the Regulatory Council is to promote, research and control the cheese production. Also, the Council aims to improve the quality of the milk via a system of official approval using various methods: supervision of the milk laboratories of each company, permanent registers of both cheese factories and cattle rearers, an official tasting committee that undertakes an organoleptic or sensory evaluation of the cheese produced and chemico-physical controls carried out by all the laboratories concerned.

Descargar el Reglamento de la Denominación

Controls

The Regulatory Council is the control structure that must ensure that the requisites demanded by the Mark of Origin are satisfied. To achieve this, a quality system based on the European Regulation EN 45011 has been developed. The installation of this system has allowed for the standardisation of the controls carried out by the Mark of Origin as well as ICT support.

• The milk must come exclusively from registered herds situated within the production zone.
• The milking, cooling, conservation, collection and transport of the milk.
• The cheese must be produced in cheese farms registered in the production zone and controlled by the Regulatory Council.
• The maturing and conservation must also be carried out in premises registered and controlled by the Regulatory Council.
• The final product must undergo chemical-physical analysis and corresponding organoleptic tests in order that their quality can be guaranteed.