Italian agri-food excellences are increasingly in vogue in restaurant offerings.
DOP
and PGIs add value, to the menu
as in the account. But when the promise turns out to be a dud, the innkeeper also risks the slammer. And there is no escape for the
RAC
, the Agribusiness Department of the Carabinieri.
RAC, a shower of sanctions
In the month of April 2019 alone, RAC servicemen conducted investigations and charges against a number of restaurant owners. Who falsely boasted the use of PDO and PGI products in some of their dishes. Except instead using ingredients of lower value and quality instead.
Fraud unmasked from the RACs’ military cover some of the most celebrated and valued specialties, including PDOs and PGIs (here is the complete list updated to April 2019). In detail,
– focaccia di Recco with PGI cheese. Registered as a geographical indication in 2015, it is widely imitated, with results often far from the original. Even the
chefs
on TV usurp its name, infuriating the protection consortium.
But the tasty pastry filled with fresh cheese, to evoke
the Recco area, must meet the characteristics set out in the PGI specification. (1) Which were found to be absent, in part or entirely, in the focaccias checked by the Turin RAC in numerous bakeries, pizzerias and restaurants. From Pavia to La Spezia, rain penalties of 28 thousand euros.
– Parmigiano Reggiano Dop
, Mozzarella di bufala campana Dop and Gorgonzola Dop, on the other hand, are the protected designation products improperly evoked
on the menus of some restaurants in the capital. The Rome RAC found that in place of the above-mentioned fine ingredients, the restaurateurs employed various hard cheeses, mixed milk mozzarella, blue cheese ‘Made in Germany‘. It was thus charged with the crime of
fraud in trade
.
Trade fraud. Anyone, in the exercise of a commercial activity, or in a store open to the public, delivers to the purchaser a movable thing for another, or a movable thing, by origin, provenance, quality or quantity, different from that stated or agreed, shall be punished, if the act does not constitute a more serious crime, by imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to two thousand sixty-five euros‘ (Penal Code, Article 515).
‘Cambonzola’ comes to mind, one of the many counterfeits of the ‘Made in Italy‘ made in the Germanic area which in 2015 our website GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade) publicly denounced.
Attention to suppliers
The caterer is always responsible Of the truthfulness of the news offered on the menu. It therefore commits fraud, for example, when it presents as ‘felled‘ fish that is frozen instead. Or when he calls ‘mozzarella’ the vulgar ‘stringy dough,’ on pizza or in sandwiches. And he also risks fraud charges when he uses fake PDOs and PGIs, more or less (in)knowingly.
THE RACS have started spring cleaning, administrative penalties of more than 30 thousand euros in April 2019 alone. In addition to crime reports, Operations foiled fraud related to five protected designation products.
– Speck Alto Adige Igp. 1.5 tons of fake speck were seized in the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano by the Parma RAC. Goods seized from manufacturing companies and outlets, valued at 13,600 euros.
– Prosciutto di Parma PDO. 0.3 ton of hams (24 legs) were seized at a Parma ham factory for violation of specifications. In fact, the certification documents, in the wake of the ‘Prosciuttopoli’ scandal, did not show the birth dates of the pigs used.
– Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP. 0.9 tons of packaging, 26 thousand packages intended to wrap mixed milk mozzarella (buffalo and cow) falsely proposed as Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP. Rome RACs intervened in two dairies, in the provinces of Naples and Caserta. (2)
– Ricotta of adulterated buffalo. In one of the above-mentioned dairies in Campania, it was also discovered that sugar was added to buffalo ricotta to sweeten its flavor. Carabinieri seized 15 kilograms of refined sugar, intended for sugaring-typical expedient in wine production in France and Germany-of cottage cheese. The Campania operation ended with three people being reported to the judicial authorities for the crimes of fraud in trade and selling non-genuine food substances as genuine.
– Bronte Pistachio PDO. The famous Sicilian pistachio, like the other protected quality products mentioned above, is also being counterfeited in its own territory. Administrative fines of 9 thousand euros in two commercial establishments in the provinces of Catania and Messina.
Marta Strinati and Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) The characteristics of the focaccia di Recco PGI are given at
https://www.focacciadirecco.it/index.php/la-focaccia/metodo-di-produzione.html
(2) Recall the singular case of the ‘
MuMu Mozzarella Tokyo Dop
‘,
reported by the PDO Protection Consortium but made with the collaboration of two dairies belonging to the consortium itself
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
