Made in Italy cheeses reach a record, and this thanks to Italian milk. They are the first voice of the DOP food economy with a consumer value of 8.6 billion euros.

This is what emerges from an analysis by Coldiretti on Ismea Qualivita data released on the occasion of World Milk Day which is celebrated today, June 1st.

Italy, we read, produces around 14 million tonnes of milk, of which 13.6 are delivered to dairies (95% bovine milk), thanks to the work of almost 25 thousand companies. Approximately half is used for the production of dairy excellence, with as many as 56 cheeses with designation of origin between PDO and PGI.

Italian cheeses also win overwhelmingly in the 100 best cheeses in the world 2023-2024 ranking drawn up by Taste Atlas, the online atlas of food from all over the world. «An all-Italian podium - underlines Coldiretti - which sees Parmigiano Reggiano in first place followed by Mozzarella di Bufala Campana and Stracchino di Crescenza. But in the top 20 we also find Burrata, Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano, Pecorino Sardo and Pecorino Toscano."

Results which led, in 2023, to a 12 percent leap - almost 5 billion euros - in cheese exports.

However, there is a "flaw": the problem of low prices paid to farmers, also threatened by the phenomenon of unfair commercial practices. «Coldiretti - he recalls in a note - was the first and only association to denounce a multinational, Lactalis, because it had unilaterally modified the agreements and had not paid the agreed price to the farmers. After 5 months, the Ministry's Inspectorate sanctioned the French company after having found its unfair conduct in hundreds of cases. An epochal fact for an action that Coldiretti farmers now want to extend to all supply chains."

But the threat, concludes Coldiretti, also comes from fake in Italy, i.e. foreign products passed off as Italian thanks to the last transformation rule, permitted by the customs code on the origin of foods. A deception against which Coldiretti has launched a major mobilization to collect one million signatures in support of a European law on origin labeling on all food products on the market in the European Union.