
Some like it fresh, in a minestra or a soppa tal-armla, some like it dry or peppered, chopped up inside a ftira or savoured with a glass of wine – whatever the context, the ġbejna tan-nagħaġ is well loved by the Maltese and visitors alike.
And today, thanks to the Protected Designation of Origin status given to the product, all ġbejna aficionados can rest easy knowing that the product they’re getting is the real deal.
The protection for the ġbejna tan-nagħaġ, approved by the European Commission on the 27th January 2025, specifies how ġbejniet tan-nagħaġ should be made, and that each part of its production, processing and preparation has to take place in the Maltese islands. It covers three types of ġbejna tan-nagħaġ: fresh (friska), dried (niexfa) and peppered (tal-bżar).
For the members of Xirka Produtturi Nagħaġ u Mogħoż, an association of producers of sheep and goat products, who applied for EU recognition of the ġbejna tan-nagħaġ, this was a way of safeguarding the tradition of the ġbejna, transmitted from one generation to the next in the families of shepherds and farmers:
“The PDO is important because it’s safeguarding the farmer, the Maltese flock, and the Maltese agricultural product,” said Jason Vella, a ġbejna producer from Mġarr and a member of the Xirka.
“We’re safeguarding the flock, because we’re saying that the milk should be derived from Maltese sheep or hybrids thereof, which are only found in Malta. It also safeguards our customers, because they’ll know that what they’re getting is genuine.”
For many ġbejna tan-nagħaġ producers, the herding and ġbejniet have been part and parcel of their lives since their childhood. Daniel Borg, a young producer from Mġarr, knows his love and knowledge of sheep to his grandmother and her her family - “most of them women” - he recalls.
“I’ve had this in me forever. I remember being young and going to my nanna, my bużnanna, and her cousins, just to see the sheep, because my mother wouldn’t let me keep sheep myself,” he says. “When my nanna was nearing the end, she told me that if I loved sheep so much, why don’t I start taking care of one?” And from the lamb she gave him, his flock now counts over 70 sheep.
Alexandra Spagnol, from Ħaż-Żabbar, was eight when she started keeping sheep. Her family produced hay and when they visited farms where they kept sheep, she would always tell her uncle she wanted to keep them. He bought her her first two sheep when she was eight, and these days she works as a full-time farmer, producing crops which her flock feeds on: “I have some fields in which I grow the crops for my own sheep. We harvest all of the wheat, because sheep mostly like the grains.”
Indeed, the document outlining the PDO specifies that at least 55% of what the sheep are fed should be grown locally, since the sheep’s diet affects the end result. Aside from wheat and hay, sheep also feeds on barley, lolium, wheat, vetch, fava, sulla, maize, sorghum, alfalfa, ryegrass, and clover amongst others, as well as carobs, cladodes of prickly pears and vetch.
The PDO application also brought back the use of lamb rennet (known as “tames” in Maltese), which leads to the whole process only involving sheep products.
The different types of ġbejniet tan-nagħaġ are also witness to the geographical and social circumstances of the Maltese islands and their people.
“My grandparents used to say that the time for ġbejniet was the months with the letter ‘r’, that is from September to April,” Jason recounts.
A ġbejna tan-nagħaġ which doesn’t dry properly because of the wind and the humidity in the air, for instance, can easily be made into a peppered ġbejna (tal-bżar), which would be preserved with vinegar, and could easily last months. This is a testament to the mindset of the Maltese population of yore, which used to abhor waste.
The producers also hope that thanks to the PDO, more young people would see there’s a future for the ġbejna tan-nagħaġ, and get into the game themselves. This label can also help this product be sold around the world, giving consumers a guarantee that it’s the real deal.
The application process also had welcome side effects: while working on the application, researchers found old recipes of different types of cheese that were produced in Malta, that over the years had disappeared. Thanks to this research, Maltese cheese from the past has a hope for a brighter future.
The ġbejna tan-nagħaġ single document: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN-MT/TXT/?from=EN&uri=CELEX%3A52024XC05348
What are the EU’s geographical indications?
Geographical indications establish intellectual property rights for specific products, whose qualities are specifically linked to the area of production.
Geographical indications comprise:
PDO – protected designation of origin (food and wine)
PGI – protected geographical indication (food and wine)
GI – geographical indication (spirit drinks).
The EU geographical indications system protects the names of products that originate from specific regions and have specific qualities or enjoy a reputation linked to the production territory. The differences between PDO and PGI are linked primarily to how much of the product’s raw materials must come from the area, or how much of the production process has to take place within the specific region. GI is specific for spirit drinks.
Protected designation of origin (PDO)
Product names registered as PDO are those that have the strongest links to the place in which they are made.
Products: food, agricultural products and wines.
Specifications: Every part of the production, processing and preparation process must take place in the specific region. For wines, this means that the grapes have to come exclusively from the geographical area where the wine is made.
Example: Kalamata olive oil PDO is entirely produced in the region of Kalamata in Greece, using olive varieties from that area.
Label: mandatory for food and agricultural products, optional for wine.
Protected geographical indication (PGI)
PGI emphasises the relationship between the specific geographic region and the name of the product, where a particular quality, reputation or other characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.
Products: food, agricultural products and wines.
Specifications: For most products, at least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation takes place in the region. In the case of wine, this means that at least 85% of the grapes used have to come exclusively from the geographical area where the wine is actually made.
Example: Westfälischer Knochenschinken PGI ham is produced in Westphalia using age-old techniques, but the meat used does not exclusively come from animals born and reared in that specific region of Germany.
Label: mandatory for food, agricultural products, optional for wines.
Geographical indication of spirit drinks (GI)
The GI protects the name of a spirit drink originating in a country, region or locality where the product’s particular quality, reputation or other characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.
Products: spirit drinks.
Specifications: For most products, at least one of the stages of distillation or preparation takes place in the region. However, raw products do not need to come from the region.
Example: Irish Whiskey GI has been brewed, distilled and matured in Ireland since the 6th century, but the raw materials do not exclusively come from Ireland.
Label: optional for all products.
Traditional speciality guaranteed
Traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) highlights the traditional aspects, such as the way the product is made or its composition, without being linked to a specific geographical area. The name of a product being registered as a TSG protects it against falsification and misuse.
Products: food and agricultural products.
Example: Gueuze TSG is a traditional beer obtained by spontaneous fermentation. It is generally produced in and around Brussels, Belgium. Nonetheless, being a TSG, its production method is protected but it could be produced somewhere else.
Label: mandatory for all products.
Details
- Publication date
- 28 January 2025
- Author
- Representation in Malta