On 14 January 2025, with the publication of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/98, the European Commission officially registered Arroz de Sarrabulho à Moda de Ponte de Lima as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG). The text was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 21 January 2025 and entered in the European eAmbrosia register.
This is the culmination of an 18-year process, launched in 2007 and coordinated by the Gastronomic Confraternity of Arroz de Sarrabulho à Moda de Ponte de Lima, in partnership with the Municipality of Ponte de Lima and the Escola Superior Agrária of the Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo.
What is the TSG designation?
The Traditional Speciality Guaranteed is one of the three European quality designations for agri-food products — alongside PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication). It is currently regulated by Regulation (EU) 2024/1143.
Unlike PDO and PGI — which tie the product to a specific territory — the TSG protects the recipe and the traditional method of production. A TSG product can be made anywhere in the Union, as long as it fully complies with the registered product specification.
What the TSG guarantees to the consumer:
- Authenticity of the recipe — strict compliance with the product specification
- Traditional method of production handed down through generations
- Specific ingredients traditionally used
- Traceability — every certified establishment is audited
The product specification
The official product specification, published by DGADR (Direção-Geral de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural), sets out the rules that every certified restaurant must follow.
Description of the dish
Arroz de Sarrabulho à Moda de Ponte de Lima is a rice dish cooked in a rich broth of several meats, served with pieces of meat and sausages prepared specifically for this purpose. It appears as a loose rice (not stodgy), with abundant dark-brown broth, free of clots, where shredded meat stands out. The aroma includes notes of cumin, bay leaf and lemon, and the flavour is slightly acidic and intense.
Mandatory ingredients
- Carolino rice (a Portuguese short-grain variety)
- Beloura — sliced blood sausage of homogeneous brown colour
- Chouriça de verde — green sausage with notes of cumin, garlic and bay leaf
- Tripa branca — white tripe sausage with aromas of garlic and bay leaf
- Rojões de porco — cubes of pork leg fried in lard
Optional ingredients
Pork offal (liver, heart, lung), blood, potatoes or chestnuts.
Flavourings
Cumin, bay leaf, cinnamon, garlic, vinegar or Vinho Verde (white or red).
Portugal joins a small group of TSGs
Up to January 2025, only two Portuguese products had earned the European TSG classification:
- Bacalhau de Cura Tradicional Portuguesa (traditionally cured Portuguese salt cod)
- Sopa da Pedra de Almeirim (stone soup from Almeirim)
Arroz de Sarrabulho à Moda de Ponte de Lima became the third Portuguese product to carry this European seal.
Control body
The certifying body designated to verify compliance with the product specification is AGRICERT — Certificação de Produtos Alimentares, Lda.. Every restaurant wishing to display the TSG seal must be audited by AGRICERT and comply with the control plan published by DGADR.
What changes for restaurants
Only certified restaurants may use the official designation «Arroz de Sarrabulho à Moda de Ponte de Lima» and display the TSG plaque at their door. The first 14 certified restaurants received their plaques in January 2026, and the process remains open to new applications.
Discover all TSG-certified restaurants on our portal.
