Minister De Girolamo praises the excellent results achieved in terms of protecting food industry Made in Italy meanwhile the platform www.dop-igp.eu is launched to report infractions across europe
Yesterday, a decree was signed in Rome implementing EU Reg. 1151/2012 on farm produce and food product quality regimens, better known as the “Quality Package”. An important achievement for AICIG, which has always been on the frontline defending Made in Italy, but above all, a milestone for the food industry, welcomed also by the Minister for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, Nunzia De Girolamo, who sees it as a significant accomplishment that will benefit not only Italian excellence, but also consumers and entrepreneurs.
By signing the decree, ex-officio protection of the “Quality Package”, therefore, provides a solid answer to the issue of protecting Italian food wealth, welcomed with much enthusiasm by all operators in the industry who, thanks to the decree, will be ensured protection of the Italian geographic denominations of origin, not only domestically, but throughout the EU, making available to all authorities in charge of member States a tool that will immediately and effectively ensure protection of DOP, IGP and STG labeled products.
“The system of consortiums – claims President of Aicig, Giuseppe Liberatore – which has strongly advocated this law, has worked non-stop and without any sort of reservation, in order to dispose of this incredibly important tool, essential to have instant reaction in case of counterfeiting. We all hope that incidents like the ones that recently involved Asiago, Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, with counterfeit versions of their cheese displayed by a U.S. company at the Amuga Fair in Germany, do not happen again and that they can be readily fought through the enforcement of official laws.”
In order to make quality control more efficient, the Ministry for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, jointly with AICIG, Isnea, Federdoc and Fondazione Qualivita, has also launched www.dop-igp.eu, a web-portal that brings together information and provides practical tools to operators in the industry to fight counterfeiting of denominations of origin. As a matter of fact, this platform will make it possible to report infractions to all European operators, thanks too, to the involvement of controlling bodies that can certify production regulations.
“I am quite satisfied with the results we have achieved – stressed President of ISMEA, Arturo Semerari – and with the important contribution that ISMEA has offered in shaping this project, which represents an indispensable tool in providing tangible support to protect the national wealth of Dop and Igp products.”
“The platform www.dop-igp.eu aims at being a benchmark for all operators in the industry – Liberatore added – to ensure a more uniform and coordinated management of a market that represents the spearhead of the entire EC food industry economy”.