Prés-salés de la baie de Somme

Salt-meadow lamb from the Baie de Somme, produced under PDO rules requiring lambs to graze halophytic maritime pasture for a minimum of 75 days. Carcases must meet defined conformation and fat-cover standards on the EUROP grid. The meat is pink in colour and is offered for sale chilled, or thawed and chilled.

About this designation

Registered as a PDO on 11 May 2007 under file number PDO-FR-0604 (eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013980), 'Prés-salés de la baie de Somme' covers fresh lamb meat produced within a defined geographical area centred on the salt marshes — known locally as 'mollières' — of the Baie de Somme and the surrounding Picardy maritime plain municipalities. Lambs must be under 12 months of age and must graze maritime halophytic pasture for a minimum of 75 days, during which concentrates are prohibited and forage is the only permitted feed supplement. Grazing must amount to at least 7 hours a day for 60 of those days and at least 4 hours a day for the remaining days. A post-natal period of a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 90 days on mother's milk precedes the maritime pasture stage. An optional finishing period not exceeding one day for every four days of maritime pasture, or a total of six weeks, is permitted. Permitted breeding ram breeds are Suffolk, Hampshire, Roussin, Ile de France, Rouge de l'Ouest, Boulonnais and Vendéen. Carcases must weigh a minimum of 16 kg, conform to class U, R or O on the EUROP grid, and carry a fat-cover rating of class 2 or 3 on the EUROP grid. External and internal fat must be firm and white to creamy-white. All forage and at least 65 % of dry feed distributed each day must come from low-altitude plots within the geographical area containing soil composed of recent marine sediments.

Source: The register document this entry was written from · retrieved August 26, 2026

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PDO on 11 May 2007 under file number PDO-FR-0604, eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013980.
• Lambs must graze halophytic maritime pasture for a minimum of 75 days; concentrates are prohibited during this period.
• Seven permitted breeding ram breeds are named: Suffolk, Hampshire, Roussin, Ile de France, Rouge de l'Ouest, Boulonnais and Vendéen; no others are permitted.
• Carcases must reach a minimum weight of 16 kg and fall within conformation classes U, R or O and fat-cover classes 2 or 3 on the EUROP grid.

Tasting notes

Picardy salt-marsh lamb AOP from Somme bay (Atlantic coast). Similar profile to Mont-Saint-Michel — distinctively salty-iodized flavor from halophyte grazing.

HoReCa use

Most lambs are offered for consumption between July and November.

Packaging

• Same as Mont-Saint-Michel salt-marsh lamb

Seasonality