Saucisse de Montbéliard

Saucisse de Montbéliard is a cooked pork sausage from Franche-Comté, smoked over resinous wood and filled into a natural pork casing of at least 25 mm diameter, closed by twisting. The specification requires coarse mincing and seasoning with cumin or caraway and pepper. Smoking gives the sausage a light amber colour and a balanced, lasting smoked flavour.

About this designation

Registered as a PGI on 14 March 2011 under file number PGI-FR-0869 (eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013977), Saucisse de Montbéliard is produced within the Franche-Comté geographical area, which corresponds to the zone where traditional smokehouses and 'thués' are found. The specification requires that the sausage be made exclusively from pork, filled into a colourless natural pork gut casing with a diameter of at least 25 mm, and closed by twisting, which gives the sausage its slightly curved form. The meat mixture must be coarsely minced with a grain of at least 6 mm. Seasoning typically includes cumin or caraway and pepper. Smoking must be carried out over wood and sawdust of resinous trees: for at least 6 hours in a conventional smokehouse, at least 9 hours in a combination of a traditional smokehouse and a conventional smokehouse, or at least 12 hours in a traditional smokehouse. The products are always smoked without propulsion of smoke or mechanical ventilation. Pigs must be fed on a whey diet with a restricted linoleic acid content of 1.7 % of their diet. The proportion of fattening pigs sensitive to halothane must be less than 3 %, and all must be non-carriers of the RN- allele. Uncastrated males, hermaphrodites, and cull sows are not accepted. The sausages may be sold raw, cooked, or frozen, and must be packaged when passed on to the consumer.

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

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PGI on 14 March 2011 under file number PGI-FR-0869, eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013977.
• Smoking must use wood and sawdust exclusively from resinous trees, for at least 6, 9, or 12 hours depending on smokehouse type.
• The natural pork gut casing must have a diameter of at least 25 mm and be closed by twisting; no other casing is permitted.
• Pigs must be fed a whey diet with linoleic acid restricted to 1.7 % of their diet, and the halothane-sensitive proportion must be less than 3 %.

Tasting notes

Franche-Comté smoked pork sausage from Montbéliard area, similar to Morteau but smaller, finer-textured, distinctively flavored with cumin (the differentiator from Morteau). Characteristic smoke profile from beechwood.

HoReCa use

Same applications as Morteau but more delicate; in salade comtoise; with comté cheese; pan-fried with shallots.

Packaging

• whole-piece-vacuum-150-250g
• twin-pack-300g