Is the origin of milk and its derivatives the focus of the battle in Bolzano, South Tyrol or Italy? Or Austria, or Germany? The debate over the quantity and fate of imported milk consignments is very heated.
Even doubts are raised about the consistency of the collective labels-‘Quality South Tyrol,’ ‘South Tyrolean Milk,’ and ‘100% South Tyrolean Mountain Milk’-used to distinguish premium products- with consumer expectations.
The mysteries about South Tyrolean milk
Casting doubt on the true nature of South Tyrolean milk is Andreas Leiter-Reber, a farmer and politician. Councilor of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and chairman of the liberal party Die Freiheitlichen.
In July 2020, reports the local newspaper salto.bz, the councilman had asked the leadership of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano to find out how much milk individual South Tyrolean dairy farms had purchased from other Italian regions, the Province of Trento and abroad over the past five years.
Top secret data
In the fall of 2020, Arnold Schuler, Bolzano’s agriculture councillor, had dismissed the request for information on the grounds that dairy cooperatives are private entities and have no obligation to disclose data.
Councilor Leiter-Reber insisted. In March 2021 he repeated the request. But the councilor responded that the data received was partial and the dairy association defended its right not to disclose it.
The (partial) flows of foreign milk
Analysis of the (partial) data revealed a major flow of milk imports from Italy, Austria and Germany. Dairy companies said they use it for external production commissioned by large-scale retailers and on their own products not identified with origin brands (the aforementioned ‘Quality South Tyrol’, ‘South Tyrol Milk’ and ‘100% South Tyrolean Mountain Milk’).
It is possible, of course. But who checks that this is the case, that the prized South Tyrolean milk (52-55 cents/kg) is not mixed with milk from the rest of Italy, which is often underpaid (32-35 cents/kg)?
A super-controlled supply chain
The milk supply chain is riddled with controls. Basic supervision is provided by public veterinarians and other supervisory authorities. In addition, the South Tyrolean dairy industry is subject to laboratory controls by its association.
Production process, feed, processing and milk delivery are screened . Also, raw milk, milk collection tanks, finished dairy products, wastewater. But the origin?
Certified origin, Italy
The provenance of milk, in truth, is subject only to documentary checks. Annemarie Kaser, director of the South Tyrolean Dairy Industry Association herself, explains to salto.bz that a certificate from an inspection body is used to seal the origin of the milk.
The stubborn Bolzano information site, however, checks. And it publishes the certificate issued to the South Tyrol Dairy Federation by CSQA, which on closer inspection does not attest to the origin of the milk ‘South Tyrol’ but ‘Italy’. Oops.
Clarity needed
The affair is illustrated at length by Stefano Mariotti, editor-in-chief of the newspaper qualeformaggio.it, with bitter conclusions. ‘It is indeed a pity that South Tyrol, although possessing such extraordinary scientific resources, has so far not used them to certify the substance of its work .
Hopefully,in view of the situation that has arisen, they will determine to put them in the field, in the need to sweep away many doubts and remove all shadows from their doing, and especially their products‘.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
