Italy to prop up iconic Parmesan industry by buying and giving cheese to the poor
Thu Dec 11, 3:04 PM
By Colleen Barry, The Associated Press
MILAN, Italy - Some might see it as a cheesy way to solve the problem of poverty.
The Italian government says it plans to gave cheese away to the underprivileged as a way to combat poverty while propping up one of the country's iconic industries.
Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia says he is committed to buying 100,000, 30-kilogram wheels each of Parmigiano Reggiano and the very similar Grana Padano cheese to donate to the needy.
Producers have sought government help in the face of prices that have fallen some 25 per cent over the past five years.
The government said it will buy three per cent of the annual production at market prices.
The Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano consortia put the value of the purchase at about US-$66 million.
"It's a help. It doesn't resolve the problem, but it is a help," said Giorgio Apostoli, who represents dairy farmers for the Coldiretti agriculture lobby.
"This is a crisis of pricing, not of consumption," added Apostoli, who notes that while consumption of the more expensive Parmigiano Padano has fallen slightly in the last year, that of Grana Padano has risen slightly.
Apostoli said the measure doubles the usual government acquisition of Parmigiano and Gran Padano under an EU program to provide food for the poor.
The government also plans to convene a round table with distributors to negotiate sales promotions that will be fairer to producers, as well as launch campaigns to promote Italian Parmesan abroad, where it can command higher prices.
An overwhelming 85 per cent of the Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano produced is consumed in Italy; Coldiretti estimates that some 60 per cent of that is sold at discounted prices.
Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano cheeses are produced according to very strict traditions tied to their geographic origins - primarily the Po River Valley of northern Italy - specifying everything from the aging process to the origin of the milk used.
Italy is jealous even of the name Parmesan, having gone to the EU seeking to ban its use by copycats cashing in on the culinary tradition.
