What happens when the Italian “PDO economy” meets the world of food industry and craftsmanship? This is the question that Fondazione Qualivita (an Italian foundation created 21 years ago in Siena with the aim of enhancing and protecting quality European agri-food productions) has tried to answer with its latest in-depth study on the segment of Italian processed food products that use Italian PDO and/or PGI ingredients.

The results show that 68% of protection Consortia have granted authorization to use a Geographical Indication (GI) as an ingredient. Overall, there are 13,000 authorizations issued over the years by the Consortia and by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, 4,600 of which active in 2020 and involving about 1,600 processing companies.