Fake 'Italian-sounding' food outstrips real deal
Alarm at Romanian 'parmezan' and British 'Lasandwich'
17 September, 17:25
(ANSA) - Rome, September 17 - Foreign-made goods that cash
in on Italian food's fame and popularity by using names that
make them sound authentic are outstripping the real deal
two-to-one on the market place.The 'Italian-sounding' food business is worth 26 billion euros a year in the Europe Union alone, over twice the value of the nation's exports of genuine goods to the region, Italy's food producers' federation Federalimentare said Friday.
It said offenders include Romanian 'parmezan' masquerading as parmesan cheese, Portugal's 'Milaneza' - not Milanese - pasta and the Montenegrin 'palenta' consumers might buy when they want traditional northern Italian polenta cornmeal. Federalimentare expressed particular dismay at the 'Lasandwich' that supermarket giant Tesco recently unleashed on British shoppers, saying the delicious baked pasta dish does not deserve to have its name tarred in this way.
It also lamented the fact that even shoppers in Italy were buying more and more foreign foods with Italian-sounding names, calling on consumers to pay more attention to where their grub is made.
Italy's producers say these goods do not taste anywhere near as good as the real thing and sometimes cause nasty surprises, as shown with the recent health alarm sparked by German-made mozzarella cheese that turned blue when opened.
Furthermore, Italian-sounding goods are only part of the food-piracy problem - some foreign fakes are even more brazen, using the proper names of the goods they are imitating.
As a result the CIA farming association estimates that food piracy costs Italy some 60 billion euros a year in total.
Another farmers' association, Coldiretti, says that in the US, Australia and New Zealand only around 2% of so-called Italian produce was actually from Italy, with fake San Daniele ham and mortadella among the offenders.
Coldiretti said that in the US you can also find clones of, among other things, prized cheeses such as Gorgonzola, Asiago and Romano, as well as 'Californian Chianti' and San Marzano tomatoes.
Environment association Legambiente, meanwhile, presented a report Friday based on checks carried out in 2009 which said meat and dairy products were the foods most targeted by the makers of fake foreign goods.
''This shows the battle against counterfeit foods is necessary to uphold law and order, to protect the public from fraudsters and keep their health safe,'' said Legambiente national secretary Francesco Ferrante, a Senator with the centre-left opposition Democratic Party. Despite the unfair competition, Federalimentare said Italian exports in Europe were up 11.6% in the first quarter of this year. photo: fake parmesan cheese.
