Italy is the country with the highest number of GIs productions and, focusing on deli meat products, over 20% of those registered are Italian: 43 in total, with 21 PDO and 22 PGI. Italy’s climate and geographical conformation make it unique, and it is thanks to its rich biodiversity that an incredible variety of typical food products have been created over time. But the history of our food excellence would not have been the same without the ingenuity and know-how of man, who over time has understood and enhanced his territory, taking the best of it and transforming it into something unique.
PDO and PGI deli meats represent the most valuable outcome of their territory of origin (understood as the combination of natural and human factors) and hand down its history. They tell of people, ancient gestures, and skillfully handed down production techniques, but also of scents, aromas, and flavors. PDO and PGI quality labels protect and promote the origins, traditions, and unique characteristics of distinctive products. The strict rules that regulate and govern these products have a twofold function: on the one hand, to safeguard the products themselves, protecting product names and typicality from imitation and abuse – and on the other to protect consumers by guaranteeing certified and controlled quality. That’s the reason why PDO and PGI products must follow a precise product specification, which regulates the production process, sets the requirements, and proves the historical link with the territory of origin.
Isit – Istituto Salumi Italiani Tutelati – brings together 19 Consortia for the protection of PDO and PGI deli meats and aims to safeguard, promote, and enhance the sector. “Each PDO and PGI deli meat product – comments President Lorenzo Beretta – has a history and a production process that characterizes it and binds it to its territory of origin, and carries with it the values, culture, and tradition of people who have always known how to pass on knowledge, craftsmanship, and passion. PDO and PGI deli meats are therefore a heritage that is one of our greatest riches and as such we must protect, safeguard, and increasingly learn to communicate and valorize”.
The production framework of the Italian deli meats sector is historically made up of small and medium-sized companies, including family-run ones, which are flanked by large production companies and which, together, contribute to establishing the value of Made-in-Italy products all over the world. “The role of Consortia – says President Beretta – is strategic and fundamental. They are instruments of aggregation and cohesion among producers, useful for defining virtuous shared paths of governance and growth, as well as collective action. Protection Consortia play an important role, that is destined to grow soon, having regard to the imminent entry into force of the new European Regulation of GIs, which sees among its cornerstones the strengthening of the powers of the Consortia and greater protection for designations”.
GIs are increasingly central to European agricultural policy and represent a virtuous example of an effective production model, capable of bringing positive effects also on the development of local economies, in terms of employment, fight against delocalization, and preservation of traditions and territory, including tourism and culture.
