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Dop, Igp and Sgt: are certifications still worthwhile?
Dop, Igp and Sgt: are certifications still worthwhile?

Video: Dop, Igp and Sgt: are certifications still worthwhile?

Video: Dop, Igp and Sgt: are certifications still worthwhile?
Video: I PRODOTTI ALIMENTARI 3 (DOP IGP STG).Nocenti.video 2024, March
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From 2005 to 2015 the specialties Dop (Protected designation of origin), Igp (Protected geographical indication) e Sgt (Traditional specialty guaranteed) certified by the European Union have practically doubled (+80.5%), from 154 that they had become 278.

Today, with the latest DOP made official last December 19th at the Altamura lentil, we have reached altitude 295. And to touch the round figure of 300 is very close, since they are 8 Italian products awaiting the European go-ahead (Lucanian sausage from Picerno, apples from Trentino, chocolate from Modica, brown from Serino, pitina, oil from Puglia, mozzarella from Gioia del Colle and provola from Nebrodi).

Not for nothing Italy is the first country by number of awards assigned by the European Union, as Corriere della Sera reported a few days ago with a beautiful survey by Michelangelo Borrillo (not online).

The top 10 provinces for the economic return of DOP and IGP

The 10 provinces that have had the greatest economic return from certifications, expressed in millions of euros, are:

Parmigiano Reggiano, Roscioli
Parmigiano Reggiano, Roscioli

- Parma, with 1,135, 8 euros and 12 between DOP and IGP

- Modena, with 622, 7 and 15 between DOP and IGP

- Reggio Emilia, with 544, 1 euro and 13 between DOP and IGP

- Brescia, with 401, 2 euros and 18 between DOP and IGP

- Bolzano, with 314, 3 euros and 5 between DOP and IGP

- Udine, with 301, 9 euros and 5 between DOP and IGP

- Mantua, with 241, 2 euros and 12 between DOP and IGP

- Sondrio, with 236, 5 euros and 9 between DOP and IGP

- Cremona with 215, 3 euros and 13 between DOP and IGP

- Caserta, with 208, 8 euros and 6 between DOP and IGP

But if in Italy the goodness is of many products, the sales continue to be of a few. The turnover of the 10 best-selling PDO and PGI products, equal to 5.01 billion euros, is equivalent to 79% of the total of all certified products.

The top 10 Italian DOP and IGP products by turnover

What are these 10 products? What turnover did they generate in 2015 in millions of euros? How much do they weigh as a percentage of the total? Let's see the detail:

Grana Padano
Grana Padano

1. Grana Padano 1,180.3 euros (18.5%)

2. Parmigiano Reggiano 1055, 5 (16%)

3. Parma ham 666.6 (10, 5%)

4. Balsamic vinegar of Modena 372 (5.9%)

5. Buffalo mozzarella from Campania 344, 9 (5, 4%)

6. Mortadella Bologna 316, 7 (5%)

7. Gorgonzola 304, 5 (4, 8%)

8. San Daniele ham 286.5 (4.5%)

9. Pecorino Romano 275.7 (4.3%)

10. Bresaola della Valtellina 214.8 (3.4%)

Other products 1, 335, 6 (21%).

So why this race for quality certification if the direct repercussions on turnover are only for a few? It is true that the denominations make it possible to protect the product so that it is not imitated, but let's face it, the funds that Europe makes available are tempting to many.

How the pie of EU funds is divided

In 2017, the total financial endowment was 140 million euros, a sum which, thanks to a progressive increase, will reach 200 million euros in 2019. Italian companies in 2016 managed to grab 20% of the total (113 million), that is to say 23.5 million.

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Among these, the highest funding went to the Consortium for the protection of Asti and the Grana Padano Consortium, approximately 4.7 million for both.

The financing mechanism, however, provides for an additional share set by the Consortium of 1.2 million, equal to 20%. Also for this reason, in the end, for small consortia the possibility of obtaining funding is low: there is a lack of resources to co-participate.

The advantages of staying out of DOP and IGP

Corriere della Sera also interviewed Giandomenico Negro, known to cheese lovers for his work as a refiner with his company “La bottega nel pastura”.

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According to Negro, quality awards are obsolete because they no longer guarantee anything other than the origin of the product, once a bulwark against imitations. "But now the world is full of Parmesan …".

Negro has been dealing with cheeses since 1995, it has contributed like few others to enhance the Dop of Robiola di Roccaverano, a delicious goat cheese from the Langhe of Asti, but in the mid-2000s it decided to leave the ranks of the Dop to focus on brands, animal breeds and types of feeding: "pasture" - peremptory affirms, "not to feed at 50% as in DOP".

To explain the advantages of doing it yourself, especially for smaller producers, Negro mentions the Parmigiano Reggiano DOP. Important PDOs are in the hands of the industry, so if the small producer calls his cheese by the name of PDO, he is swallowed up and fails to enhance the product. While outside the Dop it can do as we do at “La Bottega del Pastigiana”, which sell the Robiola of the Langa of Asti at a 25% higher price than the Robiola di Roccaverano Dop”.

Negro also explains why he can afford to sell his cheese for a higher price:

"Because our robiola is produced only in the spring, summer and autumn months, given that the animals are fed on pasture. While PDO also produces in winter, when there is no pasture and the biological cycle of the animals is forced. That's why a good pecorino like that of the Picinisco mountain or a podolic caciocavallo like that of the Gargano are not found in any Dop brand ".

Do PDO and PGI still agree?

With the turnover being the prerogative of the big companies that make large volumes, the strong competition from Greece, Spain and France in the hoarding of European funds, and some smaller certified products that after chasing recognition for years have not even equipped themselves with a site (the burrata di Andria, Igp since December 2016), a good part of the Italian quality products could remain, in practice, only the brand.

Burrata
Burrata

This is why, contrary to what it might seem, the pursuit of PDO, Igp or Stg certification has begun to slow down. By the way, do you guys know exactly what these acronyms mean?

Protected designation of origin (PDO)

Identifies a product a) originating in a specific place, region or country, b) the characteristics of which are due to a particular geographical environment c) whose production stages take place in the specified geographical area.

Protected Geographical Indication (Igp)

Identifies a product a) originating in a specific place, region or country, b) whose geographical origin is attributable to a given quality, reputation or other characteristics, c) whose production takes place for at least one of its phases (production, processing and processing) in the specified geographical area.

Traditional specialty guaranteed (Stg)

Identifies a product obtained a) either by a production, processing or composition method that corresponds to a traditional practice for that product or food, of or from traditionally used raw materials and ingredients.

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