May 29 - Italy beats France with its PDO dairy products. The recently-awarded certifications see Italy reach a total of 48 PDO cheeses, while France stops at 45.  Italy thus becomes the European and the world's leader in quality dairy production. The Coldiretti analyzed the data on the occasion of the official Milk Day promoted by Expo 2015 and the Ministry of Agriculture. The match between Italy and France in cheese production has deep roots; with even Charles De Gaulle wondering how to govern France, with its more cheeses than days in the calendar. But the situation is certainly not easier in Italy, where the traditional cheeses registered in the Regional Census amount to 487. Italy’s PDO cheeses receive approximately half of the milk delivered from Italian farms (45.5% of the 50 million tons of milk produced), for a production close to 500 million pounds of PDO cheese per year, almost twice that of France. ISTAT data analyzed by Coldiretti also highlight a 4% increase in Italian PDO cheese exports to France, while a 3% decrease in Italy’s imports of French PDO cheese.  (Red)

ITALIANS AND THE CONSUMPTION OF CHEESE

Despite the production lead, Italians are only seventh in the world for cheese consumption (with 20.7 kilograms per person per year). Coldiretti analyzed the data and it emerged that in France, people consume 25.9 kilograms of cheese per person; followed by Iceland, Finland, Germany, Estonia and Switzerland. What worries is the quality of the non-PDO cheese sold in Italy; with almost half of the mozzarella being made with foreign milk or curds. However, - stresses Coldiretti - no one knows the precise amount, as it’s not required to write it on the label.