After the industrial coup, it is time for revenge for the historic shepherds of the "Fiore Sardo". The most identifiable of the island's pecorino cheeses, the one with the protected designation of origin (DOP) brand, can resume its production from tomorrow. The ministerial communication is a lethal blow for industrialists. The Ministry of Agriculture, after the investigation into the alterations in production, with its own provision, effectively unseated the Consortium of industrialists, the one they had set up to get rid of the historic shepherds.

Stop the coup

Substantial revocation, with non-renewal, of the functions of "protection" of the production of the most inimitable of Sardinian cheeses. With a coup, in 2011, that historic brand, the industrialists, had stolen it from the children and grandchildren who were heirs of that ancient art, putting the producers of Gavoi and Fonni out of action who in 1999, after long battles, had obtained the Dop recognition for their cheese. The confirmation that that industrially-driven Consortium has been put out of action was communicated by the competent Ministry itself with a letter dated 6 November last with which it entrusted the management of the "Protection" of the Sardinian flower, at that point "commissioned", to the external PDO control body. In fact, «IFCQ srl», a Friulian company authorized to carry out protection and quality controls, has been indicated to take over from the “industrial” Consortium. They were given the task of restarting the most valuable productions of the Fiore Sardo through the delivery of the exclusive emblem of the Dop. All this after a production freeze that had been going on for about three months, causing unprecedented damage to the island's dairy system, which has always been linked to the most identifying production. The administration of the "industrial" Consortium of Fiore Sardo, and the failure to communicate the provision, had, in fact, had the "mockery" effect given that the historical producers themselves had been denied the "stamps" to mark the PDO, causing minus, for three months, the production of the exclusive cheese. A situation that had jeopardized the start of the season, forcing companies in Barbagia, and beyond, to deliver their milk to industrial dairies. In addition to the damage of the blockade of the production of the historic cheese, the shepherds of the internal areas also had to suffer the mockery of having to cede the "white gold" to that industrial sector antithetical to their transformation activity precisely because of the stringent "regulations" which makes the production of Fiore Sardo with "raw" milk mandatory.

Inviolable raw

It was this essential element for the dairy rules that sparked the scandal of the industrial production of the famous pecorino. The investigators, who then seized a mountain of Fiore Sardo altered with respect to the production provisions, had ascertained that the milk used, contrary to what the production handbook states, had been "thermalized", a practice necessary for the transport of the milk to industrial plants, but strictly prohibited by the rules for the production of PDO. The moment that "altered" cheese was subtracted from the quantity subjected to quality control, the very legitimacy of the Industrialists' Consortium automatically ceased. From tomorrow the production of Fiore Sardo will be able to restart: from 2pm to 6pm on Wednesday, in fact, the company delegated by the Ministry will deliver the "casein discs", the Dop brand. For the historic shepherds of Fiore Sardo it is rebirth and redemption, but also a new beginning.

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