Protection & provenance

PDO and authentic Pag cheese

A plain-English guide to the EU Protected Designation of Origin for Paški sir, its production area, controls and labels.

Photo: Marino Linic · Unsplash

The short answer

Paški sir has been an EU Protected Designation of Origin since November 2019. The protected cheese must meet the registered specification, including its milk source, production area, methods, maturation and labeling rules.

PDO protects the name through a defined product specification rather than through reputation alone.

What the designation covers

The production area is Pag and the islets Maun and Škrda. Whole milk must come from the island’s native sheep, and every stage from milk production and renneting through moulding, pressing, salting and maturation must occur within that area.

Sources: 1

How to identify the protected product

The name “Paški sir” must be more prominent than any other wording on the finished product, which must also carry the common Paški sir sign. All compliant PDO users have equal rights to that common sign. The Ministry identifies Biotechnicon as the authorized conformity-control body.

Sources: 1, 2

Sources

Source trail

Paški sir — EU single documentEUR-Lex · accessed 24 August 2026
ZOI Paški sir — registeredCroatian Ministry of Agriculture · accessed 24 August 2026

Page last verified: 24 August 2026