Almost 20 years ago Italian food and wine producers decided to protect the status of what makes Italian produce Italian by supporting the formation of Qualivita.
Despite being based in Siena, Tuscany, it took a national perspective to Italy’s parochial, highly regionalised food kingdom.
Rosati says the Qualitvita Foundation aims to retain value for all Italian food and wine producers, many of them small in scale and family owned.
At the time the Italian food sector was wavering with rural depopulation eroding family operations and farmer-grower sentiment at a low level.
Since then the link between farming, food and tourism in Italy has strengthened year on year.
Tourism now contributes 10% or €160 billion of the country’s GDP.
It is a key component of the government’s economic development policy in a country struggling to hold its own in growth figures.
With about 60 million tourists a year Italy is the world’s fifth most visited country.
Last year an International Institute of Gastronomy report on culture, arts and tourism found over 30% of visitors to Italy can be classed as food tourists.
An ANZ report released here last year found over 80% of tourists visiting Italy anticipate a positive food experience, compared to only 40% coming to NZ.
Rosati says the decision to form Qualivita was partly in response to the growing corporatisation of Italian food sales with larger chains starting to dominate traditional market outlets.
“We wanted to ensure the buyers and distributors of these outlets remained sensitive to local products,” he says.
Today work with supermarket chains showcases regional specialties in distinct parts of a store, separate from more run-of-the-mill offerings in specialty foods like pasta, vinegars, dried meats and sauces.
More recently Qualivita has worked with Italian McDonalds outlets, a chain that has historically had a tough time getting established in the world’s food capital.
In 2008 it boosted its place as an eating option for older Italians who traditionally avoid fast food outlets. It was done by working with Qualivita on a careful campaign to provide healthier food based on Italian products and ingredients.
It included working with celebrity chef Joe Bastianich to create the Gran Chianina burger, a patty of the prized Chianina Tuscan beef.
“It’s really also work to help teach the next generation of Italians about these products.
“It has also been the start of a project to teach smaller producers to collaborate with much larger producers.
“Having Qualivita represent these producers, maintain geographic indications and ensure authenticity remains has meant a lot of small producers in Italy can stay small but amplify their voice and brands of artisan products and traditions.”
Protecting and supporting the geographic indications of these producers is Qualivita’s biggest role.
Under EU regulations indicator protections can take three forms.
They can be protected designation of origin foods, with protected names that have the strongest links to the place they are made, for example parmesan Reggiano cheese.
Protected geographical indications protect a specific aspect of the food, possibly a process used to produce it or a particular quality, with at least one stage occurring in a particular region, such as prosciutto Toscano where the pigs must be born in the Tuscany region.
A traditional speciality guarantee applies to a particular method used but not necessarily a region, such as a beer brewed to a certain method.
Perhaps surprisingly Rosati does not see fake regional foods presenting a big problem.
“We do see versions of parmesan but find if we correctly communicate the true product to big buyers they will choose the correct products over those offerings.”
Qualivita is, however, working closely with distributors and processors to develop block chain technology to reinforce transparency on products already carrying protection.
He sees little reason New Zealand cannot pursue greater geographical distinction with its wide range of foods, cautioning certification is only the first step and having a collective goal among small producers to create a large common brand is vital.
To date only wine and liquors can seek protection in NZ.
“That brand value is a common value to be shared and it has to be all or nothing.
“It is a state of mind, something that does not always fit with Anglo Saxon values of pursuit of individual wealth.
“But you do not have to recreate Italy in NZ. Just value your landscape, your food and the variety it offers.”
He is increasingly being asked by other countries to advise them on protecting and promoting their produce. Norway most recently used Qualivita to certify a dried fish product.
Spanish and French authorities are also increasingly looking at what Qualivita is doing to better link their food, wine and farming sectors into tourism.
The Italian wine industry has long been invested in the tourism sector with winery visits, trips and tastings all well served.
The recent move to integrate food, wine and tourism even further has occurred with the national Agriturismo farm accommodation network now including wineries among the 20,000 already registered premises nationally.
Rosati urged NZ growers and farmers to relish their uniqueness at the bottom of the world and accepting that quality is not the only prerequisite to success.
“It is also the social and cultural links that make what you do so important.
“Storytelling is a big part of what you need to do.”
Petersen: ‘They’ve got very big hands’
While helping authenticate food sources, geographical indications are also proving a headache for trade negotiators seeking a free-trade deal between New Zealand and Europe.
Special agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen said any hope of having an agreement negotiated before Christmas is looking increasingly dim as negotiations stall over European Union demands on geographical indications.
“We have had a list put forward to us containing what the Europeans claim are 2700 individual product GIs.
“They claim this is only a handful.
“To that we respond that they have very big hands,” Peterson said.
The far-reaching geographical descriptors go beyond the bounds of region-specific products to include such products as feta cheese.
“Some of these really are generic names to describe a type of food, not the region from which they come.
“We can understand their need to protect food like Parmesan Reggiano but parmesan? That is the same as feta.”
He confirmed the demands are largely around meat and dairy products and are the main sticking point.
The lack of progress means NZ negotiators did not even attend the last negotiation round in the absence of any real change in the EU position.
Petersen said he can, however, see some value in NZ working harder around GI protection for some of its own unique foods. Such protection is offered only to wine and liquors.
“I think we can learn from the likes of the Italians about how they celebrate their food and culture and links to their heritage all very much being part of their national identity.”
However, he cautioned GIs also bring the risk food producers become overly protective around techniques and methods and too prescriptive in how products are made.
The World Wine Group, dominated by new world wine growers, has run into issues with old world European growers over the use of new techniques in wine making.
“There is the risk innovation is stymied.”
He can see the opportunity, however, for NZ to have an overarching authority, perhaps similar to Ireland’s Origin Green organisation.
