Spiš sausages rank among food products which have the potential to become an exclusive export commodity. Their traditional manufacturer, the "Mäso Spiš, s r.o." limited company of Spišská Nová Ves will export the first kilograms of these sausages to the Czech Republic, mainly Moravia.

The management of the company wants to make use of a technological niche in the Czech market that arised at the production of similar sausages/frankfurters in the Czech Republic. The Mäso Spiš company is one of the few producers of Spiš sausages in Slovakia which manufactures them the traditional way, namely by manually filling the meat base into sheep gut. The Czech manufacturers switched over to machine filling of natural guts and packaging.

"It is not just the technology that matters. We found out that the requirements on taste and other properties of meat products of the Czech consumers are the same as the requirements of the Slovak consumers. Prices are similar too. In other words, we want to satisfy the taste and the demand of the Czech consumers for quality Slovak products," said Marián Užák, the managing director of the Mäso Spiš company.

There is an almost hundred years' tradition of Spiš sausages production in Slovakia. The tradition dates back to the times of frequent trips of Historical Hungarian nobles' to grand markets and fairs at the foot of the Spiš castle. The local butcher Štefan Varsányi of Spišské Podhradie started selling a specialty, Spiš sausages, which at that time were made only of shoulder or best end of neck of pork. The recipe based on outstanding mix of spices, sweet and hot paprika must have been very successful because soon these sausages started to be sold in Hungary and Poland.

President T.G.Masaryk and count Albín Csáky were regular consumers of these sausages, the latter had been the speaker of the Upper House of the Historical Hungarian Parliament, minister of education and culture and managed to get these sausages to be on the menu at meetings of the Hungarian government.

The Spiš sausages are still made in line with the traditional recipe that was modified only by adding some beef in the meat base. These suasages are unique not only for their taste but also for the way they are made. Genuine Spiš sausages cannot be machine made, since genuine sheep gut is very fragile in comparison with other guts and packaging materials.

The quality of sheep gut also makes Spiš sausages typically juicy. Consumer can check whether the sausage is a genuine Spiš product - the hot sausage must crack when you try to break it.

"Interestingly enough, these sausages rank among the most expensive, yet the most demanded sausages in Slovakia. The interest of buyers keeps growing. Most customers are in Košice, Prešov and Spiš regions," said Marián Užák.

Mäso Spiš wants to export the sausages to the Czech Republic as well as to Ukraine and near-frontier areas of Poland and Hungary. To our question if the company wanted to export its sausages also to EU countries, Marián Užák responded that it would not be possible without export subsidies.

"You know, it is not just the subsidies we do not get. It also is the western customer who had to get used to juiceless rubber-like sausages. It may be hard to break their habit. We make our sausages using the traditional recipe which we have not spoilt with any additives that would artificially prolong their durability," Marián Užák added.

Slovak Trade FORUM