Counterfeit Fiore Sardo Dop, 22 shepherds civil parties in the trial
Legal representatives of seven companies on trial: investigations led to the seizure of over 7 tons of product in 2022
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Twenty-two shepherds producing Fiore Sardo Dop , assisted by the lawyer Efisio Arbau, have joined the civil action in the trial against the legal representatives of seven Sardinian dairy companies accused of counterfeiting geographical indications.
The facts concern the production of Fiore Sardo with heat-treated milk instead of raw milk , as required by the specifications. The shepherds, historic producers of the cheese, complain about the risk to their millenary tradition, damaged by counterfeit productions that debase the product and put authentic producers out of the market .
The seven producers had been reached by a criminal conviction decree which they opposed. Hence the trial, presided over by judge Giampiero Sanna, which will continue with the hearing of witnesses on November 7. According to the prosecution, in fact, some productions of pecorino cheese of the "fiore sardo" type would have been made in violation of the specific rules of the production specification. The contested facts concern the production of Fiore Sardo Dop, which took place in the period around April 2021, with heat-treated milk, rather than with raw milk as required by the production specification
The investigation dates back to 2022 but the contested productions are those between December 2021 and March 2022. At that time, the Guardia di Finanza, as part of the controls for the protection of "Made in Italy", had seized over 270 tons of "Fiore sardo", for a value of 1.6 million euros .
"The civil parties are all shepherds, historic producers of Fiore Sardo, a tradition passed down from generation to generation, with the processing of the cheese in company factories. Shepherds who have invested their economic resources and time with the important return of 'recognizing the DOP', promoting the 'Fiore' throughout the world and making it the 'shepherds' cheese' par excellence , as it is produced from milk freshly milked on the farm - says the lawyer Arbau - The civil parties have requested and obtained the admission of six witnesses, five shepherds-producers of Fiore Sardo and the creator and leader of Slow Food Carlo Petrini, while the judge has reserved his decision on the request made by the civil parties to carry out a judicial experiment that refutes the defense thesis that the analyses that led to the contestation of the crime were conditioned by the practice of 'scalding'".
