What are non-standard hams?

At Ibericomio we like to provide you with information about the world of Iberian ham, and for this reason we wrote a must-read article on the Iberian ham standard and the different Iberian ham flanges or labels, but there is a world behind Iberian ham of the highest quality. When a ham or shoulder falls outside the Iberian standard, it becomes a ham or shoulder outside the standard. In this article we tell you everything you need to know about this type of ham or shoulder.

What is an out-of-standard ham or shoulder?
First of all, I would like to tell you what the “Iberian ham quality standard” is all about.

In October 2001, RD 1083/2001 was approved with the Iberian ham quality standard , the objective of which was to define the quality and labeling characteristics of Iberian ham, Iberian shoulder and Iberian loin.

REGULATIONS FOR IBERIAN HAM

All legislation advances and adapts to the development of society’s needs. For this reason, from 2001 to 2007, several ministerial orders were approved for its development, causing a situation of normative dispersion. This made it advisable to compile the texts in a new quality standard for Iberian ham in RD 1469/2007.

In addition to this standard, the Mesa del Ibérico was set up to monitor it. After years of work, it was concluded that there was a widespread lack of knowledge about Iberian ham on the part of consumers. In addition, an excessive variety of classification on the labels of Iberian hams incited a certain degree of mischief and caused confusion among consumers.

Conclusion: the new 2014 Iberian ham standard is born, i.e. R.D. 4/2014, which establishes, among other things, the identification label for Iberian ham.

This R.D. is the latest standard that exists, there is no regulation for Iberian ham 2016 nor an Iberian standard 2017. There have been regulatory developments but no new standard.

Producing Iberian ham is not the same as producing screws. Even if a farmer raises a whole herd in the same way, there will always be some animals that, for the reasons indicated below, will not meet the requirements set by the standard at the time of slaughter.

HAM AND SHOULDER OUT OF STANDARD

There is also the circumstance of a piece that in “blood”, that is, when it leaves the slaughterhouse, is within the Iberian standard, but the loss during the curing process has been greater than expected. When it goes on sale it does not reach the minimum weight and therefore loses its classification as an Iberian ham, it is a ham outside the standard.

These and other circumstances are giving rise to the so-called out-of-standard ham in all production facilities and among all farms.

We want to offer you these offers of hams that do not have the Iberian denomination because they did not reach the certification of the standard of the R.D.4/2014 of the Iberian.

We guarantee that without being products protected by the Iberian standard, they do enjoy a great quality and flavor. It is obvious that their price is lower than the products covered by the Iberian standard. You can find them in Ibericomio.es with the following label: Product without Iberian standard

WHAT REQUIREMENT DID THESE HAMS NOT MEET IN ORDER NOT TO BE CALLED IBERIAN HAMS?

The animal did not reach the minimum carcass weight of 115kg or 108kg in the case of 100% Iberian animals.
The animal has been feeding on acorns, but has not gained enough weight with this diet – The minimum replacement in montanera must be 46 kg, for more than 60 days
The animal, for whatever reason, was slaughtered before the minimum age of 14 months in the case of acorns and 10 months in the case of fattening.
The entry of the ACORN animals into the “montanera” was not carried out on the established dates (from October 1 to December 15) or their slaughter was carried out outside the legally established period (from December 15 to March 31).

In ibericomio.es you can buy these offers of hams out of standard because we know the manufacturers of Iberian products and we have visited their facilities. Before offering you these ham offers, we have demanded the traceability of these pieces and we have tested different lots. With all this, we guarantee that without being hams protected by the Iberian standard, they do enjoy a great quality. Obviously, their price is lower than the products covered by the Iberian standard. We encourage you to buy these offers of hams with all the guarantees of ibericomio. Even so if you are one of the most demanding and want to be backed by the standard of Iberian ham you can see the catalog of acorn-fed Iberian ham that we have in our online store.