Commission Implementing Regulation 1370/2011of 21 December 2011 has brought season cheer to the hearts of all Bulgarians, since it confirms that country's first protected geographical indication. 

The protected product is a 'Gornooryahovski sausage' (Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk), a traditional sausage from the town of Gorna Oryahovitsa.

A brief history of this sausage is that numerous crafts connected with the manufacture of meat products developed in Gorna Oryahovitsa from time immemorial: meat production, butchery, sudzhuk sausage making, meat curing, etc. As early as the 19th century the authorities, recognizing the benefits, supported local tradesmen and craftsmen. In this way the town gradually became established as one of the biggest trading centres in the then Turkish empire by means of the construction of town markets. 

In 1538, Suleiman I the Magnificent issued a decree granting the Rustem Pasha Foundation lands and taxes from the production of sudzhuk sausages in Rahoviche-I Gebr (now known as Gorna Oryahovitsa). In 1861, sudzhuk sausages produced by the Gorna Oryahovitsa manufacturer and trader Mihail Nikolov were awarded a medal at an international fair in Italy. 

During the Bulgarian National Revival period, the sausages produced in Gorna Oryahovitsa were called ‘Sara’ and ‘Smarlama’. After the Liberation, they became known under the name of ‘Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk’ and ‘Dried Beef Sausage’. The Austro-Hungarian ethnographer Felix Phillipp Kanitz, in his ‘Danube Bulgaria and the Balkans’ (1882), described the traditions of the people of Gorna Oryahovitsa in connection with meat production and sudzhuk sausage manufacturing trades. 

The first advertisement for sudzhuk sausage production was published in the Bulgarian Almanac in 1911 by the Nedev family of Gorna Oryahovitsa. The local market trade in sudzhuk sausages, which was well developed, was one of the reasons for conducting the first international sample trade fair in Gorna Oryahovitsa (taking place from 1922 to 1932). In 1931, the ‘Gorna Oryahovitsa indoor market regulations’ were issued. These delegated State control over the sale of sudzhuk sausages to local manufacturers. 

After the 1940s, due to their amazing and distinctive flavour and high quality, sudzhuk sausages became established on the Bulgarian market and were promoted under the name ‘Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk’. More information can be found here".