2. Cooked ham

This is the technology with the highest production: 235,000 t in 2001. If we add to this product the others based on the same technology (cooked shoulder, hams, cooked roasts, etc.), we arrive at a total of around 300,000 t (23% of all charcuterie, cured meats and preserves). In fact, cooked ham has regained its former glory: a product that has successfully met the challenge of combining the image of a traditional product, as in the past, with the high-performance technology found only on industrial sites. This development shows that there is no contradiction between a high-quality product and an industrial concept. The French particularity lies in the fact that the main product produced is of superior quality (formulated in the same way as in the past, i.e. without additives/ingredients such as polyphosphates, lactates, carrageenates, blood proteins, etc.). In the remainder of this paragraph,...