Traditions-Tastes-Regions
Program in Hungary and
its Green Paper aspects
Imola KISÉRDI-PALLÓ Ph.D.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development HU
EU High Level Conference
on the Future of Quality Policy
of Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs
12-13 March 2009 Prague CZ
STARTING
MOTTO
„Dis-moi ce que tu manges,
je te dirai ce que tu es”
(Tell me what you eat and
I tell you what you are)
Le Physiologie du Gout
Brillant Savarin, 1825
Chapters
I.
European Quality Concept to ensure the
Competitiveness of Traditional Foods
(1992-1997)
II. Traditions-Tastes-Regions (TTR) Program in HU
(1998-2002)
III. The Complex Utilisation Strategy of the TTR
(2003- )
IV. Consumer preferences to the Traditional Products
(2004-2008)
V. Hungarian suggestions concerning Green Paper
(2009)
European Quality Concept –
Quality Labelling since 1992
•
•
•
•
Quality Guarantee for Consumers
Legal Protection for Producers
against unfair market competition
Added Marketing Value
grows competitiveness
Sustainable Rural Development
efficient tool
EUROTERROIRS Program
Conception (1993-1997)

Traditions, region and culture linked to
the products as important quality features

Traditional and regional products are part
of the national cultural heritage

Competitiveness of these products with
high added value can be increased in the
overstocked European and global market
Inventaire des Produits Alimentaires des
Regions de l’Union Européenne (4000)





L’Inventaire du Patrimoine Culinaire de la France
(890)
Traditional Foods from Britain (395)
Deutschlands kulinarisches Erbe (300)
Inventário espanol de productos traditionales
(532)
Inventário de los productos traditionais
portugueses (351)
(number of products
in 1997)
TRADITIONS-TASTES-REGIONS
Program in Hungary 1998-2002
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Background:
Euroterroirs Program in the EU (1993-1997)
Aim:
To create a Collection of Traditional and Regional
Products in Hungary - thus improving their
competitiveness
Financing:
PHARE (French experts)
French Government (French-Hungarian Initiative,
INFH)
Hungarian Government (Ministry of Agriculture
and Agricultural Marketing Centre)
Traditional and Regional Product
Concept
Concept
„Traditional and Regional Product”
refers to
the knowledge (local know-how, culture)
available in local communities (place)
and knowledge transfer over generations (time).
Reference:
SINI(2000):Typical Local Products, DOLPHINS Studies,
EU 5th Research Framework Program
3 dimensions of
Traditional and Regional Products
History
(Time)
Culture
(Tradition)
Geography (Place)
The Specific Quality of a Traditional and Regional
Product is determined by Geography, History and
Culture relating to the manufacture of the product.
Source: KISÉRDI-PALLÓ, I.(2003):PhD Thesis, Corvinus University, Budapest
Criteria of TTR Collection

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Production by traditional method
Linked to a specific geographical region
Historical dimension (min. 2 generations = 50ys)
Good reputation
Existance of production and distribution
Results of the TTR program

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1998: Elaboration of the criteria by the
Scientific Panel
1999: Collected 1148 product proposals by
experts and examined by the Scientific Panel
2000: 300 product descriptions accepted by
the National Council
2001: 1st edition of the Book in two volumes
2002: Trademark of „HÍR” TTR registered by
the Hungarian Patent Office, owned by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
2003: CD version in HU and Book 2nd edition
2004: CD version in EN, D and HU
2005: 3rd edition of book
TTR - Regions
Northern
Hungary
Western
Central
Transdanubia Central
Hungary
Transdanubia
Southern Great Plain
Southern
Transdanubia
Northern
Great
Plain
TTR-logo
The Regional Division of Products
listed in the TTR Collection
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
86
58
46
43
30
28
9
South
Plain
North
Plain
Central West. South North Central
Hu
Danub
Danub. Danub. Hu
The Sectorial Division of Products
listed in the TTR Collection
120
110
100
80
55
60
40
31
22
22
20
0
Fruit-veget.
13
meat
bakery
drinks
dairy
spice
13
sweets
10
Confectionary
Complex utilisation strategy of TTR

Utilisation by instruments of collective
marketing
AMC

Utilisation by instruments of industrial property
rights
TMs & GIs

Utilisation in rural development programs
Approved by the Ministerial Board in 2003.
RDP
Results of collective marketing
(Agricultural Marketing Centre)
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Publication of the Collection (book, CD,
homepage, films)
Enlargement of the Collection (Transylvania)
Presentation of the Collection on international
exhibitions (e.g. FOODAPEST, IFE Hungary,
OMÉK, SIA, Royal Show, Grüne Woche)
Supported utilisation of the Collection in the
education & research (competition for bakery &
confectionery candidates)
Promoting the distribution of TTR products (e.g.
CORA supermarkets)
Utilisation by instruments of
industrial property rights

PDO/PGI
Submitted 11 national
protected products to the
COM until now
Szegedi téliszalámi (Winter
salami of Szeged) registered
in 2007

TSG
Traditional soda water under
national protection

Trademark
TTR trademark system for
products in the preparation
phase
Utilisation in the rural development
programs
2000-2002: Rural Development Support
System in Hungary
2003-2004:SAPARD in HU
2004-2006: Agricultural and Rural
Development Operational Program
2007-2013: New Hungary Rural
Development Program
Criteria:

Producer organisations/groups
Conformity with quality, hygiene and animal welfare
requirements (cross compliance)

„Traditional Food”
Working Group
in Hungary
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Established in the framework of the European
Organization for Quality HNC in 2004
Objective: to improve the utilization strategy of
the TTR collection at European level
Members: 124 experts
Activities:
Conferences (EU Community Conference, 2006)
Seminars e.g. TAIEX seminar, 2005
Expert Meetings
Proceedings and Publications
Collaboration with other professional partners
Consumer Expectations to Traditional Products
with factor analyses



QUALITY factor
High quality
Safety
Healthy
ECONOMIC factor
Export orientation
Competitiveness
TRUST factor
Origin (Place dimension)
History (Time dimension)
Tradition (Culture dimension )
Conclusions:
Three independent factors can be distinguished: quality, economic
and trust factors. Within these factors can be seen the elements
with high weighting as well. Within the trust factor, consumers
contribute to determining role of geographical, historical and
cultural aspects of the traditional products.
Source: NÓTÁRI, M (2008) and POPOVICS, A (2008)
Conclusions and Suggestions
based on Marketing-Mix (4P)
Product: Trust to products – Consumers in
favour of Hungarian foods with trade mark
 Price: Moderate willingness to pay extra
price for traditional products - suitable price
level
 Place: Direct sales - Hungarian corners in
the supermarkets
 Promotion:Effective marketingcommunication strategy

Source: SZAKÁLY, Z.- SZILÁGYI, O (2008) University of Kaposvár
points
based on SWOT analyses
The TTR products are suitable for the EU
registration BUT
 The cooperation of the producers is not
perfect – To encourage the formation of
producer groups
 Modest reputation of the products - To
enhance the reputation by collective
marketing instruments
 To promote their market accession – To
create local or regional organizations
(e.g.cluster, SF convivium)
KISÉRDI-PALLÓ, I.(2006): EU Community Conference,
Debrecen, Proceedings
Example for creation of cluster
Creation of cluster (e.g. Slow Food „convivium”)
Objective:
To protect the local products and culture
Centre: BRA (ITALY)
In the world:
1000 conviviums/80 000 members
Hungarian conviviums:
SF Budapest (2003) for confectionary
SF Debrecen (2004) for honey cake
SF Szatmár County (2005) for plum jam
SF Kiskunság (2006) for mangalitza and
bioproducts
www.slow-food.hu
Green Paper aspects –
Hungarian comments
Winning
Together
Building Harnessing
on
Diversity
Success
Key Elements of the Competitiveness
Towards a European Vision of Quality /Study of European Organization for Quality,
supported by the European Commission, 2000/
Green Paper on Quality Policy fits very well to these principles.
Hungarian suggestions I.
To extend the scope of the
traditional product with
soda water category
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Our reasons based on the case study
revised by HBS:
Long traditional know-how (180 ys)
Well-organised producer group since 100 ys
(nowadays 500 members, 10 000
employees in 1500 manufactures)
High quality, safety and healthy product
Innovative approach
Environmental approach (refilling)
Variable sales channels (B2B, B2C,
locavore)
Strong cultural dimension (historical
museum and book, link to literature and
painting)
HU inventory which spread in Europe
(AT,DE, PL, SL, UK, PT, ES, IT, RO, LV,LT,
EE)
„The experience of generations and
centuries was needed before the
Hungarian invented spritzer, the secret
of long life.” (Sándor Márai)
Pablo Picasso
Hungarian suggestions II.
To enhance the reputation of traditional
products by national or regional
trademarks e.g. TTR
Our objective:
to introduce TTR as
national quality scheme
in the near future.
Hungarian suggestions III.
Common initiative of producer groups to
apply for TSG registration
(e.g. „kürtős kalács” i.e. chimney cake/
pastry horn in the CEECs)
Traditional Chimney Cake originated from
Transylvania (RO), and spread in Hungary and
Slovakia and Czech Republic as well.
Hungarian suggestions : Plus One
Promoting innovation of traditional products related
to their competitiveness:
„New Regional Product” category (Ittersum, 2000):
Products developed relying upon local specialities and
experiences
EU TRUEFOOD project - EU 6th Research Framework Prog.
Intradfood 2005 – Innovation in Traditional Foods
EFFOST Conference, Valence, October, 2005
Innovation is the new dimension of the quality according
to the Futures Study, 2008, American Society for Quality
Food Culture: Tradition, Innovation and Trust
17th IAMA Agribusiness World Forum
Parma, June, 2007
Global Challenges - Local Solutions
19th IAMA Agribusiness World Forum
Budapest, June 20-23, 2009
CLOSING
MOTTO
„Le fait des nations dependent de ce
que ils mangent”
The fate of the nations depends on
what they eat.
Le Physiologie du Gout
Brillant Savarin, 1825
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!
E-mail:
Kiserdii@fvm.hu