The more than 60 Italian agri-food products with community recognition, PDO or PGI, which belong to the Aicig (Italian Association of Geographical Indication Consortia) from now on they can count on “Origin Italia”. A new aggregation that not only represents a change of facade, but a project aimed at strengthening the value of Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication products, bringing them under the umbrella of “OriGIn Europa”, the result of a common network launched – especially with producers from France and Spain – starting in 2003.
Among the qualifying points of the initiative, presented yesterday to the Ministry of Agricultural Policies (Mipaaft), there is the involvement among the members no longer of individual consortium realities, but also of associations of consortia relating to segments of specific denomination products. “To increase awareness of the value of denominations and make consumers aware of topical issues on product protection, it is necessary to be increasingly united – he explained the president of Aicig, Cesare Baldrighi – The protection consortia that manage Dop, Igp and Stg products (guaranteed traditional specialty, ed.) have repeatedly made it clear that they want to create a system. The turning point towards which we are veering with the transformation from Aicig to Origin Italia is represented above all by the fact that also the associations of protection consortia for the various product categories, with Afidop in primis for PDO cheeses and Isit for PDO and PGI cured meats, they agreed on the need to give life to a new association, a new point of reference for aggregating the product bodies defined in the EU quality policy with the geographical indications”. "If today we become protagonists of this important change - added Baldrighi - it is because together we believe we can build an increasingly incisive dialogue with both national and supranational institutions".
Seen from the outside, the project stands as a possible barrier to a parallel market of counterfeits and attempts to imitate the most famous Italian food products (so-called Italian Sounding) estimated at around 90 billion euros, over 20 in the United States alone, but also to the system of traffic light nutritional labels (green, yellow and red), adopted in some countries such as France and Great Britain, which influences consumer choices and which, in fact, puts difficulties the Italian PDO-PGI system.
“Linking the organoleptic characteristics of the products and their geographical origin to create protected supply chains – he underlined Paolo De Castro, first vice president of the Agriculture Commission of the EU Parliament – is a great achievement of the European Union. The Italians, followed by the other Mediterranean producers, excel in the application of this concept of quality linked to uniqueness, taste and the territory”. “Made in Italy agri-food exports – recalled De Castro – closed 2017 beyond the record threshold of 41 billion euros, with an increase of 7% on the previous year, and I am sure that the new aggregation that is it will only increase the possibilities of development of the consortia, guaranteeing our products protection, if possible, even greater than that guaranteed up to now".
In his speech, President Baldrighi also touched on the exposed nerve of the relationship with the distribution chains, observing how on supermarket shelves "the division between PDO, PGI and other similar products remains unapplied, which does not help the connoisseurs of our products to make a correct choice". “A notable step forward – added Baldrighi – is represented by the EU directive to combat unfair commercial practices” (de Castro himself as rapporteur) which should be approved in the next few days. But that's another story to tell.
