Grana Padano fraud. Italian giant involved. Three dairies in the crosshairs of the Carabinieri NAC. GIFT reports the discovery of an irregular product on the Italian shelves of MD-LD. And the Grana DOP consortia remain silent.
Just this morning we denounced on our blog the ‘Gran di Vittorio,’ an ugly ‘Made in Hungary’ imitation of Grana Padano, complete with tricolor and effigy of mustachioed man. We dwelt on the distributor LD-MD Discount, which even has the audacity to proclaim ‘Italian quality’ in advertisements … but there is more.
Italian giant involved
The ‘Po Valley’ industry where the Magyar cheese was aged and packaged is the giant Nuova Castelli SpA, which is just now under investigation by the judiciary for fraud and counterfeiting related to both Grana Padano PDO and Parmigiano Reggiano PDO. The investigation, initiated by the Carabinieri Anti-Fraud Unit, is extended to two other dairies controlled by Nuova Castelli, ‘Casearia Gentile’ in Mantua and ‘Casearia Tricolore’ in Reggio.
Instead, on the next episode of ‘Who’s Seen It?’ we will offer a search for the presidents and directors of the two consortia. Who have been very careful not to take a tetragonous stance of condemning any criminal phenomena that could cause serious harm to our renowned PDOs, such as those precisely in question.
If some small stains may as well be washed at home, the dirtiest cloths go to the laundry, even better to the landfill.
(Dario Dongo)
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
