in the Varese area and in Lombardy over 300 taste samples

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There are more than 300 taste champions in Lombardy and Varese, recognized agri-food products by regulations, production methods and names that certify their quality and typicality: 34 Dop/Igp including cheeses, cured meats, fruit and vegetables, oils, fish, honey and pasta, to which are added 41 Dop/Igp wines and 271 traditional food products .

This is what Coldiretti Lombardia states on the occasion of the first National Made in Italy Day, established on April 15. Overall – continues Coldiretti Varese – the value of regional agri-food production has exceeded 16.3 billion euros, with agricultural production, related activities and food processing activities taking place in around 51 thousand production facilities, involving over 200 thousand workers .

«At a national level – says the president of Coldiretti Varese Pietro Luca Colombo, citing data from the Divulga study center – food is Italy’s main wealth, with a value of the extended agri-food chain that has exceeded 600 billion euros, and represents the best-known symbol of the country abroad. Wine, with a value of 7.8 billion euros in 2023, represents the most important item in agri-food exports Made in Italy. Lombardy bottles are also increasingly successful outside the border, recording a new historical record in 2023, with an export value of over 327 million euros, an increase of 3.1% in one year.”

For the first National Day of Made in Italy, Coldiretti presents at Vinitalyunderway in Verona, the official video of the national campaign to promote agriculture and food promoted by Coldiretti, Filiera Italia and Fondazione Campagna Amica which involves all Italian regions, in urban centers but also in internal areas, through territorial structures and the network of farmers’ markets. The objective is the valorisation of Made in Italy agri-food and food education according to the canons of the Mediterranean diet, seasonality and 0km products.

The records of Italian agri-food – concludes Coldiretti – must be defended from the phenomenon of “fake in Italy”, foreign food passed off as Italian by exploiting the concept of the last substantial transformation for food, what is technically called the customs code. In this way, foreign ham legs, after being salted and seasoned, are sold as Italian and the same happens with foreign milk which becomes Italian mozzarella. A fraud against which a great mobilization by Coldiretti started from Brenner with the aim of collecting one million signatures for a popular initiative European law proposal on the transparency of what we bring to the table.