Prosciutto di Parma had millenary roots behind it, well anchored in the gastronomic history of our country, when 60 years ago, Thursday 18 April 1963, 23 producers formed the Parma Ham Consortium on a private and voluntary basis moved by the pride of a unique all-Italian excellence, the result of a know-how handed down from generation to generation and of inseparable bond with a small territory in the province of Parma. Gathered at the Chamber of Commerce of Parma, they approved the relative Statute, sharing the conviction that by working together they could have created a more effective safeguarding and enhancing their typical product by defending and safeguarding the traditional method of processing the product, identifying in the ducal crown branded on the rind a guarantee of authenticity. A protection organization, which over time would become an international point of reference in the field of protection of typical products.
From the 23 founding producers to the 134 of today who can boast the ducal crown
At that time, a process marked by some significant milestones began: in 1970, the enactment of the law containing the "Rules relating to the protection of the designation of origin of Parma Ham", which gave producers the tools to combat fraud and unfair competition (amended in 1990 with an updated version); in 1978 the public task attributed to the Consortium by the competent Ministries to supervise the observance of the protection regulations; on 12 June 1996 the registration by the European Union of the protected designation of origin (PDO) "Prosciutto di Parma", which had as its purpose the Community protection of the product, an essential element in the context of the constant expansion of foreign target markets .
Exported to over one hundred foreign countries
The comparison between the current image of the Consortium and the testimony that time gives back to that historic moment provides a framework in which 60 years of history can be recognized. There are currently 134 companies, and each of them manages to express its identity on the product in full compliance with the rules of production, while they are around a hundred foreign countries where Parma Ham is exported: numbers that show the evolution and transformation of the market, with the ever new challenges that this entails.
«After sixty years, comments Alessandro Utini, President of the Consortium. the operation carried out by that group of 23 Parma Ham producers does not lose the exceptional and innovative character that had marked it from the beginning; on the contrary, in an inevitably changed context, the lucid and farsighted choice to join forces to defend and promote the uniqueness of the product is confirmed as constantly topical and gives us the responsibility to protect the future of the generations that will take up our baton».
