In the silence of the ‘mainstream media,’ as is customary on issues that the strong powers intend to pursue without hindrance (1) from the people, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA ) has been concluded, pending parliamentary ratifications.
This agreement regrettably includes agricultural and food commodities, which will effectively result in the greater relinquishment of our borders to products derived from cloned animals and their offspring, GMO and ‘otherwise GMO’ commodities (NPBTs), grains and seeds treated with glyphosate and dicamba even after harvest, and so on.
It will then prove easier to find products on our shelves that are already now available in Italy in ‘specialty’ stores, or ‘delikatessen,’ such as Castroni in Rome.
A bottle of salad dressing is worth expressing the grossest mystification of ‘Made in Italy’ food, in blatant violation of current regulations, among other things. Where, in a designated Italian-sounding product (‘Cardini’), it boasts the presence of an unlikely ‘Italian cheese’ then cited as ‘Parmesan‘, in defiance of the 1951 Stresa Convention and the European system of protection of Parmigiano Reggiano PDO.
Let’s hold on tight!
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) http://ttip2016.eu/sign-the-petition-against-ttip-and-ceta-copy.html
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
