made in italy
Italian PROSCIUTTO: not just Parma and San Daniele PDO Giuseppe L. Pastori – Food Technologist
Italy is one of the Countries with the highest density of food and wine excellences: oil, cheese, wines or cured meat, many products are PDO, PGI, TGS certified, and more than five thousand agro-industrial products are registered in the list of foods (PAT) compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food on regional basis, because each product tells the story and the traditions of a specific area
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taly owns several leaderships in the world. It is recognized as the Country of Fine Arts that are integral part of its past; monuments and pieces of art are a sign of the civilizations that have come first and of our ancestors’ genius. And in the present, it’s a fashion leader, design leader and a motoring leader. Italy evokes a refined lifestyle that stands out from the mass, with its care for details and originality; we are appreciated for our ability to recognize beauty, for our joyful mood, our slow and natural pace of life. The Made in Italy is appreciated for the quality of its products, for well-done jobs; for the authenticity, the result of handcrafted and industrial jobs that are many and different, because we like feeling part of the land where we live. Who looks at Italy from outside, from abroad, can’t help loving our country and feeling moved every time he meets a part of it, either tourism or products: and for sure we are much more appreciated abroad than we, who live in Italy, may think. The art of doing things well expresses itself also in the production and preparation of food: in fact tourist flows towards Italy do
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Consorzio del Prosciutto Toscano
not restrict themself to vising monuments and churches, art galleries and museums, or at doing shopping in fashion shops. Our cuisine is widely appreciated. Italy is one of the countries with the highest density of food and wine excellences, and tourists love stopping and tasting the traditional foods of specific areas. From north to south, islands included, each region (even each territory in the same region, because Naples is not Caserta, and Bergamo is not Milan…) distinguishes itself for the identity of its cuisine and the products of its land. It can be oil, cheese, wine or cured meats (and many other specialities), our excellence is in many PDO, PGI, TGS recognized products, and in more than five thousand agro-industrial products registered in the list of foods (PAT) compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food on a regional basis, because each product tells the story and the traditions of a specific area. The products of the excellent Italian art of cooking are genuine and enhanced by the Mediterranean Diet, that’s why they are appreciated all around the world, sometimes even imitated (with bad results) for the value they represent; they are one of the eco-
nomic mainstays of our economy. Despite frequent attempts to copy them, which have been named Italian sounding because they copy the name and the image – in order to repeat the quality of our original products (and give rise to many problems because they steal important market shares of our economy, and need legal actions to protect our original products), many consumers all around the world recognize, appreciate and valorize the real production Made in Italy, which satisfies even the most demanding customers. Being praised by the international community and being recognized as a reference for the food markets all around the world was not an easy thing, and it wouldn’t have been possible if we had counted only on our forces, if we hadn’t been protected by European laws and regulations that have introduced the PDO acronym (indicating the Protected Designation of Origin), a brand for legal safeguard. This brand (more than the other two, PGI and TGS) connects the product and its organoleptic and qualitative characteristics with the specific area where it is produced, because it recognizes the unique natural, environmental and human conditions that are responsible for the final quality of a certain speciality in that specific area. All European PDO and PGI products are an Consorzio del Prosciutto di Modena DOP
