It is Prosecco that leads the ranking of the most fake Italian wines in the world with imitations spread across all continents from Meer-secco to Kressecco, from Semisecco to Consecco, and in recent days the sale of Whitesecco and Crisecco has also been unmasked with a colossal scam discovered by the task force of the central Inspectorate for fraud repression established by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies which blocked the Chinese commerce web platform on Alibaba which has over 430 million consumers, the potential sale of 30 million cans of fake Prosecco
The explosive success of Prosecco abroad, where in 2016 it recorded a record 25% increase in sales, fuels its popularity and multiplies attempts at imitations. A risk increased by e-commerce for an all-Italian success with a production that - according to what Coldiretti announces - has reached 410-415 million bottles.
According to the first rumors the fraud was allegedly devised by an Austrian producer, currently unknown, which has proposed the sale of cans of prosecco on the platform of the Chinese web giant with a minimum order of 120 thousand. As the inspectors of the Italian ministry, who work daily to protect Made in Italy agri-food in the supply chain and on the web, noticed it - Italian Prosecco has never been produced in cans - they immediately contacted Alibaba which blocked the site preventing the trade of 30 million cans. For each can, a price of 0,67 cents was asked, a paltry price which also speaks volumes about the quality of the product that was intended to be passed off as one of the jewels of Italian enology.
Once this umpteenth fraud was thwarted on Alibaba on Saturday 9 September, Italy will be the protagonist, for the second consecutive year, of a special showcase with 120 wineries, about three times as many as last year, from all our regions.
Since two years the Mipaaf and the Chinese e-commerce giant have signed an agreement to promote the agri-food excellence of our country and fight fakes. An agreement that allows Italian companies to be able to satisfy the growing demand for Made in Italy products.
“The ICQRF operation – stated Minister Maurizio Martina – demonstrates the magnitude of this phenomenon and also concretely demonstrates how Italy is at the forefront in the fight against counterfeiting. We are the only country in the world to have agreements with the most important web players, such as eBay, Google and Alibaba, to guarantee our PDOs and PGIs the same protection as the big commercial brands. We have carried out more than 2 protection interventions with valuable results. And let's not let our guard down. We don't stop at protection, because to really beat the Italian sounding we have to help our companies to be present on international markets. We need the right agreements to overcome the walls that especially penalize small businesses. And we also need transparency. For Chinese consumers, we provide in-depth training on certified quality products, starting with wine. This will make it possible to have increasingly aware foreign consumers, able to identify and choose real Italian products.”
