More than Israeli and French sheep for Sardinia they will be the "Trojan sheep". Virgil, the ancient Roman poet who declaimed the qualities of the millenary "Pecorino" cheese, would never have imagined that his "Trojan horse", told in his famous Aeneid, would have assumed, two thousand years later, the appearance of a sheep in the land of the Nuraghi.
The "Trojan sheep"
Yet, next Thursday, at 10.30 in Borore, 21 years after the second millennium, a little by teleconference and a little presence, it will be necessary to decide whether or not to include "the Trojan sheep" in the pecorino romano disciplinary, or in the strict rules to produce the most famous of Sardinian cheeses. Gianuario Falchi, one of the leaders of the "Revolt of the milk" two years ago, does not use half words: «It is a trap to make Sardinian sheep and shepherds disappear». A pick, put in black and white in a proposal to change the production specification, to be approved in the silence of the word of mouth of the Pecorino Romano industrialists.
The protest on whatsapp
The text of the changes, however, in the last few hours, ran like lightning in the whatsapp of the army of the countryside. They, who have always lived there in the plains of Campidano or on the slopes of Gennargentu, know that those changes are a real ambush to the integrity of the dairy system of Sardinia, once again put at risk by the greed of some at the expense of entire production sector. The summary of what is happening is all in a few lines of a document that provides for the modification of the Pecorino Romano PDO specification.
The trap in the "Gospel"
Among the various changes to the "Gospel" for the production of the most famous of Sardinian cheeses, there is one that leaves no room for interpretation. Article 14 states: "The presence of 10% of the milk obtained from breeds other than those indicated, calculated on the annual mass milk destined for the production of Pecorino Romano PDO is allowed". It is here, on this standard-trap, that the greatest risk for the entire dairy sector of Sardinia is undermined. Translated, it means that 30 million liters of milk from sheep other than those of the “Sardinian breed”, including the “Nera di Arbus” sub-population, can be introduced into the Pecorino Romano production system. However, it is not easy to enchant the shepherds, let alone convince them of the goodness of a disposition which, in reality, would end up putting them in disgrace. To tell the truth, they never trusted industrialists. They know perfectly well that there is a constant in the rules of the market: those who produce milk must earn little, much more those who produce cheese. They understand perfectly what that reference to "different races" means. They know, and understand, before those who conceived the "trap", that the goal is to introduce sheep breeds in Sardinia that are functional only for intensive production, inexorably starting to put the "Sardinian breed" out of use, capable of expressing a quality level definitely higher than the "foreign" ones. Everyone knows it, but few say it.
