93% of Italian citizens believe it is important to know the origin of food, according to the online survey of the Ministry of Agricultural Policies. The consumers are asking for more and more transparency on what they bring to the table, the national inter-ministerial decree introduces the mandatory indication of the origin for processed pork, after being cleared by the European Commission. The same that launched the Farm to Fork policy to guarantee European citizens that the healthiest option is at the same time the easiest, also thanks to a better and clearer labeling to respond more adequately to information needs regarding healthy and sustainable food, without forgetting the indication of origin.
The decree aims to guarantee transparency in the choices for the 35 million Italians who every week choose to consume cured meats – according to an analysis by Coldiretti on Istat data – but also to support the 5,000 national pig farms brought to their knees by the pandemic and unfair competition, and in support of the one hundred thousand people working in the sector, with a turnover between transportation and distribution of around 20 billion.
Salami, mortadella, hams and culatello, will benefit from the tricolor on the label only if they are 100% Made in Italy, from the raw material to the packaging. A guaranteed chain that represents a guarantee of authenticity and healthiness, in line with what emerged in the Report on Italians and agriculture, commissioned by the Univerde Foundation to Noto polls. In particular, to the question: “Compared to those from other countries, Italian products are more …” the sample of consumers interviewed replied for 70% that they are tastier, 66% more genuine and 66% more controlled.
That it is the definitive stop to the invasion of semi-processed meat coming every year to our country from abroad, in an average quantity of 56 million pieces, finalized, once reworked and maliciously labeled with an undeserved Made in Italy. Even 3/4 of the hams sold in Italy seem to be made from foreign meats, without this having so far been made explicit on the label.
An important step, to stop speculation on the prices of cured meats, increasing by 3.5% at retail, while according to an analysis by Coldiretti, since the beginning of the pandemic, the prices of Italian pigs have almost halved and dropped to just over one euro per kilo, endangering the stables and, with them, the prestigious Made in Italy pork butchers, starting from the 12.5 million PDO hams, Parma and San Daniele.
A greater awareness of consumers and processing companies is desiderable, so that the wording “100% Italian” will only be used when the meat comes from pigs born, raised, butched and processed in Italy.
Fabrizio Capaccioli
Managing Director ASACERT
“Italy must claim in Europe, with every means available, the primacy on felt and sensitive issues such as the impulse and the transition to productions in line with the criteria of transparency and sustainability. It is a matter of speaking clearly and of acting limpidly, it is time to be strategically forward-looking, to really think about the future and the health issues increasingly connected to a sustainable and green economy. We do our part, move our action in favor of the protection of healthy Italian agri-food products in the world with our ITA0039 certification protocol, which is becoming a reference point and, at the same time, the target of many Italian food entrepreneurs abroad.”