[Mb-civic] The Observer: Fake Parmesan grates with Italian farmers

[harry.sifton at sympatico.ca]

Harry spotted this on the The Observer site and thought you should see it.

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Note from Harry:

Check your labels !!
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To see this story with its related links on the The Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk

Fake Parmesan grates with Italian farmers
Barbara McMahon in Rome
Sunday May 22 2005
The Observer


The next time you grate Parmesan cheese over spaghetti, check the label to see if it is the real thing. According to the Italian farming association CIA, increasing amounts of fake Parmesan are being sold in Britain. 

The problem is not only confined to the UK - inferior versions of Italy's famously crumbly cheese are also being sold in Germany, South America and Japan. In Brazil the pirated version is called 'Parmesão' while Argentina calls it 'Reggianito'. In the UK, one version is called 'Parmeggiano' - the real Parmesan cheese should have 'parmigiano reggiano' on the label.  

In a bid to protect its culinary heritage, Italy is trying to clamp down on the number of bogus cheeses, hams and wines being sold around the world. Bologna's famous mortadella is the latest example of agro-piracy - a version of the pistacchio and peppercorn-flavoured cold cut is sold in American delicatessens under the name 'murtadella'.  

Other Italian cheeses are being pirated. Bogus Gorgonzola is sold as 'cambozola' in Germany, Britain, Austria and Belgium, while the Australians call their version of the blue-veined cheese made with cows' milk and originally produced in a village outside Milan, 'tinboonzola'. Canada manufactures fake asiago and robiola cheeses and US distributors cure their own so-called Parma and San Daniele hams.  

More fake food products identified by the Italian farming experts include Californian-grown San Marzano tomatoes and a chianti produced in Australia and the United States.  

CIA says that pirated food products now generate a global turnover of €52.6 billion (£36bn), the equivalent of just under half of Italy's food business. The association says there was a threefold increase in the amount of bogus Italian products seized last year by European Union customs officers.  

Italy is now mounting a campaign to win more EU quality labels for its food and wine products to make sure customers can tell a fake food product from the real thing.  

This involves giving products a PDO label, standing for Protected Designation of Origin. There is also a more prestigious label, PGI, short for Protected Geographical Indication. Both certify the unique quality of the foodstuff.  

The Italian government scored another success last week when ricotta cheese from Rome gained a PDO label. Saffron from Abruzzo, honey from Lunigiana in Tuscany, basil from Genoa, bergamot flavouring, goose salame from Pavia, fatty bacon called lardo from Colonnata near Florence, prickly pears grown on Mount Etna, and Pachino tomatoes from Sicily have also been protected.  

'With 140 PDO products against France's 141, we are the absolute leaders in Europe,' said Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno. He said Italy would continue to push for the EU to take action at the World Trade Organisation to clamp down on all forms of food piracy.  

According to the Italian news agency Ansa, more Italian products are lined up for EU approval, including artichokes from the ancient Greek site at Paestum, south of Naples. 

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited