Livia Drusilla Claudia, better known as the wife of Emperor Augustus, reached the venerable age of 86. It is said that the merit of this achievement is due to the pucinum that the woman drank every day and that it would be nothing more than our beloved and very Italian Prosecco.
In 2008 the process to obtain recognition as a Unesco Heritage was started: a work lasting more than ten years, which ended in 2019 with the inscription of the site on the World Heritage List, during the 43rd Unesco Assembly in Baku, transforming the hills of Prosecco di Conegliano and Valdobbiadene in World Heritage.
In recent days, however, Prosecco has been at the center of a rather heated debate, which has seen Italy and Croatia clash: the European Commission has been submitted to the request by the northeastern country to register the name Prosěk.
A little further east, Russia stood out for the blockade that since 2014 has affected a series of food products – fruit and vegetables, cheeses, meat and cured meats, but also fish, from the EU, USA, Canada, Norway and Australia – saving only drinks that have been excluded. In fact, the export of Italian sparkling wine has increased compared to 2020. The block, however, has given its results, leading to an exponential increase in fake Made in Italy products, with a series of disastrous consequences for Italian restaurants in Russia, losing that touch of Italianness, they have sunk among the imitators. We also talk about it in this article.
Russia is also joined by many other countries such as Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil and Belarus where exports of fake Italian foods are on the rise: mascarpone, mozzarella, ricotta, provoletta, salami, all strictly Made NOT in Italy.
Italian sounding is certainly one of the dark sides of the coin that must be managed when you own one of the most popular food and wine and agri-food heritage in the world. Unfortunately, it is a phenomenon that consists in the use of names, landscapes, colors (tricolor) that more or less covertly recall Italy, but which in reality have nothing to do with our country. The result is a parallel economy whose value seems priceless at the moment (we are talking about 100 billion considering products, supply chains, social costs).
The ITA0039 | 100% Italian Taste Certification “continues to defend, promote and enhance the “true” Italian spirit all over the world, in the field of catering and food and wine distribution, even in Russia. The protocol aims to protect, also thanks to the use of the new APP ITA0039, the entire Italian agri-food chain, from production to the culinary transformation of the raw material, guaranteeing and certifying true Italian restaurateurs abroad, creating a virtuous connection between producers, restaurateurs and consumers. The certification, developed by ASACERT, favors the promotion of true Italian catering and the protection of Italian food excellence, through the fight against food counterfeiting and the fight against phenomena attributable to Italian Sounding.
“We want to do justice to an agri-culture that gives life to the healthiest, most sustainable and chemical-free productions on the planet, enhancing biodiversity, which is another all-Italian first, thanks also to the use, in the vast majority of crops, of organic fertilizers. We are proud of these values that distinguish the Italian agri-food production, which is demanding to be protected and supported, today more than ever, thanks to the widespread awareness that the food we eat is a fundamental choice to take care of our health. – said Fabrizio Capaccioli AD ASACERT and creator of Protocol ITA0039 – I would add that as many as 8 out of 10 Italians think that there should be a certification that deals with the protection of Made in Italy in the field of catering, specially when Italian restaurateurs need support, as well as true Italian producers. We, with ITA0039, give the opportunity to many honest restaurateurs, ambassadors of the true Made in Italy, to make themselves known in a prestigious and international showcase, because they choose to offer their customers superior quality products, respecting sustainability, biodiversity, authenticity and wholesomeness of raw materials and who daily fight the hard battle against false restaurateurs who, perhaps, only have the sign of Italian!
Let’s toast to Livia Drusilla Claudia, to today’s tricolor producers of healthiness and to her admirers from all over the world.
