MADE IN ITALY: 9 OUT OF 10 TIMES “FAKE” PARMESAN IS USED IN U.S.

Almost 9 out of 10 times a plate of pasta is sprinkled with “fake” parmesan in the United States: this was confirmed by Italian national food and agriculture group Coldiretti after the alarm was launched by ICE (National Institute for Foreign Commerce) on the unfair competition from false Italian food products sold on the market.
The diffusion of imitation products has caused the decline in exports of Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano from Italy, which now makes up only 13% of U.S. parmesan production and sales, representing the most worrisome case of imitation Italian goods on the U.S. market.
In the past twenty years - continued Coldiretti - a boom in “fake” Italian cheeses has been registered in the U.S. where American production of parmesan, ricotta, provolone, mozzarella, and romano cheeses has almost tripled and, today, importation from Italy of original products makes up just barely 2% among the total amount of imitations produced locally”.
The export of cheeses from Italy to the U.S. - specified Coldiretti - reached just over 30,000 tons, over 8,000 tons of which were parmigiano and grana, while American production reached almost 1.7 million tons, of which almost 1.3 million were mozzarella, 120,000 provolone, 111,000 ricotta, 60,000 parmesan, and 15,000 romano cheese.
We are dealing with - continued Coldiretti - the results of unchecked growth ( in 1985 production totaled about 650,000 tons) that continues even though there are negotiations underway with the WTO to safeguard from usurpation in international commerce of falsely named goods imitating products with specific characteristics connected with their denominations of origin.
Although - referred Coldiretti - Wisconsin is the U.S. state where the most imitation Italian cheese is produced, with numerous companies producing provolone, romano cheese, mozzarella, and parmesan, there is simultaneously a growing number of production plants in New York that are making provolone, mozzarella, and ricotta, as well as in California where provolone and mozzarella production is also growing. American imitations of the most famous Italian cheeses -continued Coldiretti - can be easily discovered on the internet like at the website www.antigocheese.com, where it is possible to acquire parmesan, provolone, pecorino romano, or asiago, all rigorously produced in Wisconsin, or even robiola produced in Canada. At another website, www.mozzco.com/lambert.html, one can buy mozzarella, smoked scamorza, caciotta, and mascarpone.
In reality - sustains Coldiretti - typical Italian cheeses are copied all over the world, like gorgonzola made in Brazil, or Canadian robiola, Argentinean fontina and provolone, and the Australian Tinboonzola, as well as Brazilian parmesan, Argentinean regianito, South American reggiano and parmigiano, which is also present in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and even Japan. The diffusion on the global market of low quality imitations, as well as directly affecting Italian national production sales, also seriously damages the image of products of Italian origin both on traditional markets as well as on emerging markets like China. And, it was in this Asian country where Coldiretti recently discovered the latest imitation, a Chinese pecorino made with cow’s milk.
On an international level - pointed out Coldiretti - the battle against food products that falsely claim a territorial identity must be conducted within the scope of the WTO where the council was called to take appropriate measures by July 31, 2006 during the VI World Conference that took place recently in Hong Kong. The goal is to safeguard not just wines and alcoholic drinks guaranteed protection of their geographic denominations, but also other food products like meats and cheeses.