The global turnover of fake “Italian food” products up to 120 billion – Italy

(ANSAmed) – ROME, JUNE 13 – The global turnover of fake “Italian” food products has reached 120 billion euros per year, the group of farmers Coldiretti said on Monday.

“Due to the continued rise of Italian-sounding brands, more than two-thirds of ‘Italian’ food products worldwide are now fake,” he said, adding that the impact of the war in Ukraine on world trade had exacerbated the situation.

Among the most “cloned” products are cheeses, led by Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano.

Other big fake brands are iconic cured meats like Parma and San Daniele ham and Bologna mortadella, Coldiretti said.

Wealthier countries are more likely to have fake Italian-sounding products, such as the United States, where the company is worth some 40 billion euros.

Italy must step up the fight against counterfeit Italian-sounding food, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told the general assembly of food federation Federalimentare during a video link to the Cibus trade show last August.

The government’s plan for the extraordinary promotion of Italian products last year “includes actions to defend brands and certifications of quality and origin, and to fight against Italian-sounding products” such as Parmesan cheese, it said. -he declares.

Di Maio said that “harmful practices, such as Italian-sounding (products), have reached worrying proportions, especially in the agri-food sector“.

The Italian Foreign Ministry, he said, was engaged in “intense action to combat the counterfeiting of Italian products on a global scale”.

In 2008, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Germany broke European Union rules by allowing the name “Parmesan” to be used for a German cheese that imitated the Italian glory Parmigiano Reggiano.

Parmigiano Reggiano enjoys Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status from the EU.

The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium had to assert itself more and more to defend the name of its product against misuse.

She first won a key legal victory several years ago when she successfully stopped a US cheesemaker from using the Parmigiano label on its shredded cheese.

It was the fourth time in ten years that an American company had to remove the label from its product.

In 2003, Italy lobbied for cloned American Parmesan cheese to be denied permission to export worldwide.

The American product subsequently failed in its bid for admission to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Codex Alimentarius.

Parmigiano Reggiano continues to be sold in cloned versions in South America, Japan and Great Britain, while in France, “parmesan” refers exclusively to Italian cheese.

In Brazil, a pirated version is marketed as Parmesao, while Argentina calls its fake parmesan cheese Regianito. Online sales of classic Italian food and wine products are booming, but shoppers should beware of scams, a recent study has warned.

The sale of counterfeit products generally falls into two broad categories, the study notes.

First, there are products that carry fake quality labels, implying that they were manufactured to certain standards.

This is apparently a particular problem for Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, which has been plagued by these inferior clones over the years.

The second category covers items labeled as coming from one geographic area but actually coming from another location, such as a Pompeian olive oil made in California.

Imitation of major Italian food products is on the rise despite efforts to ban inferior clones, the Foreign Trade Institute (ICE) said recently.

‘Italian-sounding’ products now generate some $6 billion in sales, while authentic items bring in only about $2 billion, ICE said, presenting the results of a survey of grocery stores North American specialists with the Chamber of Commerce of Parma. Some 97% of “Italian” pasta sauces and 76% of canned tomatoes on the North American market are fake, ICE said.

The United States currently produces 1.7 million tons of fake cheese, including 1.3 million tons of fake mozzarella, 120 million tons of fake provolone, 111,000 tons of fake ricotta, and 60,000 tons of pirated parmesan.

Gorgonzola is sold as Cambozola in Germany, Austria, Belgium and Great Britain, where it is a favorite with gourmets.

Australia tries even more to camouflage the name with its Tinboonzola.

Two other cheeses, Asiago du grand nord and Robiola d’Émilie, are respectively cloned in Wisconsin and Canada.

“Danish grana” can be found on American shelves alongside American versions of Parma ham and San Daniele ham. Other counterfeits include San Marzano tomatoes grown in California and pirated Chianti produced in Australia and the United States. In Europe, food authenticity standards are more strictly adhered to.

Last year saw a threefold increase in European Union customs seizures of fake Italian products bearing quality labels.

Italy has the highest number of EU seals of approval on its food and drink products. (ANS Amed).