Coronavirus is not stopping the Italian food and beverage industry. It does not do so in the city of Piacenza, where the first cases of contagion in the Emilia Romagna occurred. It does not do so in the other regions in the north of the country, which are protected against the risk of a pandemic.
PIACENZA ALIMENTARE CONSORTIUM TO ATTEND INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
As for the Piacenza area – a land with a great agricultural and food tradition, among cured meats, wines and dairy products (starting with Grana Padano) – food companies do not give up working, although some are proved by the absence of workers living in the municipalities of Lombardy’s “red zone” that have been placed in quarantine.
Despite the understandable fear of coronavirus, the situation is under control according to the Piacenza Alimentare Consortium. Founded in 1980, it aggregates more than eighty companies operating mainly in the sectors of wine, Grana Padano cheese, tomato preserves and cured meats, with an aggregate turnover of 1.4 billion euros. The Consortium wants to continue to grow abroad (exports have a share of 30% on total turnover). Moreover, it does not want to slow down production rates despite the crisis triggered by the spread of coronavirus.
THE DAIRY SECTOR DOES NOT STOP
This also applies to Italy’s dairy sector as a whole. “Despite the difficulties – says Italy’s dairy industries association Assolatte in an official statement – the processing industries ensure the regularity of the supply of milk and dairy products, which are essential goods, to the over 50 thousand points of sale on the national territory”.
Thus, all the milk produced in the stables, equal to 38 million litres per day, will continue to be collected every day. Also thanks to close coordination between Assolatte and the authorities who are managing the difficult crisis phase. “We want to reassure consumers: we will do everything possible to ensure the presence of milk on all shelves during the emergency”, says the president of the association Giuseppe Ambrosi.
Reassurances also come from the Italian leading dairy group Granarolo. Deliveries will be guaranteed, following the provisions, in all areas affected by the restrictive measures. In the meantime, however, as a precautionary measure, the group has equipped distributors with masks for individual protection.