Sliced mozzarella cheese produced in Austria by a Chinese company and wrapped in packaging featuring images of a gondola and the leaning Tower of Pisa has been branded the umpteenth “insult to Italian food excellence”.
Tommaso Razzolini, a councillor in the Veneto region for Brothers of Italy, the party leading Italy’s rightwing ruling coalition government, said he reported the existence of the offending mozzarella to the ministry of agriculture and food sovereignty after coming across a photo of it online.
Called European Mozzarella Cheese, the product is made in Austria by Suki, a brand of the China-based Gaofu Foods, and sold in a package that includes Chinese writing alongside sketches of the Tower of Pisa and a gondola sailing along the Grand Canal towards the Rialto Bridge in Venice.
“I reported what appears, to all intents and purposes, to be yet another case of counterfeiting to the detriment of Italian agri-food excellence,” Razzolini wrote on Facebook.
He took particular issue with “the exploitation” of monuments hailing from Veneto, “as well as the leaning Tower of Pisa”. “Monuments that are recognisable by anyone, used to sell a somewhat questionable mozzarella,” he said. “This imaginary ‘European mozzarella’ is made up of several slices that have been produced, according to the packaging, in Austria by a company based in China.”
He added: “Combining the symbols of Veneto with products of dubious origin is a serious matter, and yet another insult to Italian agri-food excellence. This time it’s at the expense of a dairy product, what will be next? Enough is enough.”
Authentico, a website set up by a group of Italian food professionals to help consumers distinguish between authentic Italian products and fake ones, had previously identified European Mozzarella Cheese to be “masquerading” as genuine mozzarella. As well as in China and the US, the cheese has been spotted in Canada, Brazil, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Australia and even Italy, according to the website.
Coldiretti, Italy’s biggest agricultural association, said the value of the global market of cloned Italian foods rose to €120bn (£105bn) last year.
Among the most cloned products are cheeses, with Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano leading the way, followed by Parma ham and mortadella.
Ettore Prandini, the president of Coldiretti, said European Mozzarella Cheese was “one of the worst examples of identity theft”. “Products such as this confuse consumers and steal markets away from real Italian foods,” he added.
