Pecorino romano, Coldiretti: "Seven years to convert the flocks, a defeat for Sardinia"

Seven years to align all the farms that want to allocate their milk to the production of Pecorino Romano for sheep breeds.

Coldiretti criticizes the decision of the assembly of the Roman Pecorino DOP Consortium .

"Deliberating seven years for the conversion of flocks is an eternity that has no scientific basis - commented the president of Coldiretti Nuoro Ogliastra and of the Coop Pastori di Dorgali, Leonardo Salis -. they would extend to nine. I do not see it as a victory at all. but as a defeat for those like us and all the shepherds who had sided with zero tolerance to races other than indigenous ones. This position I confirmed with a Pec sent in the name of the Cooperative that I represent at the Consorzio del Pecorino on the day of the assembly in which I was unable to attend because I was engaged in a fold where I did not even have a connection to connect remotely ".

"In fact - he added - the processors of the Consortium who had proposed to open to 10% of the milk coming from other breeds other than the indigenous ones, miraculously found themselves unanimous in deliberating for the seven years of reconversion".

The presidents of the Cooperativa Pastori Dorgali and the Cooperativa Armentizia Moderna di Guspini, Leonardo Salis and Roberto Tuveri, who had expressed their opposition during the assembly, explained: "We are absolutely not opposed to the breeding of sheep other than the native ones but we are for their use for the production of Pecorino Romano PDO, as well as for all the other PDOs and traditional cheeses, pecorino cheeses which, as per tradition, are produced in Sardinia with milk from Sardinian sheep reared on pasture. the first region of the Mediterranean where grazing animals are raised (70% of the island's surface). 80% of the sheep feed on wild or cultivated forage essences and this makes the bond of high quality inseparable of dairy products and meat with the landscape forms in which they are obtained ".

Another contradiction of this decision, according to the two presidents Salis and Tuveri, is that the position of the Consortium that opens up to other breeds of sheep is diametrically opposed to when, until recently, during the Pecorino Romano price crises they alleged responsibility due to "overproduction of milk".

While today it opens up to breeds that produce much more milk on average than native ones. "This decision is yet another demonstration that the shepherds within the Consortium have no say", concluded Salis and Tuveri.

(Unioneonline / F)