OCOP: Camel Milk

Camel milk, the nominated SAP of Mongolia, is a super food with high nutritional and economic value, produced by camels that graze in the herb-rich Gobi desert in the country’s southwest. Mongolia has an estimated 470 000 camels, mostly in the Gobi, all domesticated by nomadic herders and kept in open rangelands. Mongolia is among the few countries to have domesticated the wild two-humped Bactrian camel and is one of two countries with the largest two-humped camel population. The milk of these camels is rich in multivitamins with high export potential. For centuries, besides transportation, Bactrian camels have been the main source of income for those living in the country’s harsh and arid remote areas with limited alternative livelihood and have a significant place in traditional Mongolian folklore and culture. The camel is also a source of meat and wool. The animal’s key role in sustaining community livelihoods, food security, nutrition and economic growth, particularly in mountains and arid and semi-arid lands, has been recognized by the International Year of Camelids 2024.

Camel milk production is highly difficult. Milking is not easy because of the camel’s size and unpredictable behaviour. From collection of the milk from herders to the processing factory, is usually a 800 km journey and more to retailers. Producers are not institutionally organized or formalized.

Consumption: Camel milk is mostly consumed fresh. It is also fermented naturally at 25–30 °C until it turns into a sour product called Susa (in African cultures) with a long shelf life and a pleasant taste. Camel milk can stay fresh longer than the milk of other animals. Camel herder households ferment and sell the milk locally. The traditional fermented camel milk recipe is known as Khoormog (Хоормог) in Mongolian.

Geographical Indications systems

Year of establishment: 2005 

No. of agri-products under GI: 46 

Origin and characters: One of the requirements to apply for GI is the fulfilment of the document of description of the said product. In the document the applicant needs to explain about local natural and/or human factor that influence the GI products. 

Sample products: Uvs Seabuckthorn (registered in EU as GI in January 2022): the Seabuckthorn from Uvs, refers to berries of which the Latin name is Hippophae rhamnoides. It is a cultivated species of a flowering plant in the family Elaeagnaceae. It can take different colours generally yellow or orange but can also sometimes be reddish, cream of maroon. It is characterized by its smell and size and has an elliptical or bulb shape. The elliptical berries have a length of 11 to 13 mm and a width of 8 to 10 mm. The round ones (bulbs) have a diameter of 6 to 9 mm. According to their form they weigh between 0,3 and 0,8 g (50-96 g/100 fruits).The fruit pulp is juicy, not acidic; it has also an aromatic smell and a sour taste.  The seed is of white, brown, black, or shiny brown colour with a length of 4-7 mm, and width of 2-3 mm and the weight is around 13 gr for 1 000 seeds. Moreover, depending on the harvest time, either in autumn or in winter, the berry will either be juicy, and therefore dedicated to juice processing, or it will be full of fat and thus processed into oil, respectively. The geographical area for the production of ’Увс чацаргана/Uvs chatsargana’, consists of 10 administrative divisions (soums) of Uvs Province located in north-western Mongolia. These are the soums of Davst, Sagil, Turgen, Ulaangom, Tarialan, Naranbulag, Malchin, Zuungovi, Khyargas and Tes. They are located in the surroundings with a distance of approximately 50 km of the Uvs Lake basin.

Links: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.C_.2021.398.01.0036.01.ENG&toc=OJ%3AC%3A2021%3A398%3ATOC - http://uvscluster.mn/index.php/news-events/item/50-2022-02-14-04-13-53

National website: https://www.ipom.gov.mn/mn.php?page=90