Coldiretti denounced the situation at the lauch of the Observatory on Criminality in Agriculture and on the Agribusiness System. Judge Caselli is to guide its scientific committee. The President of the Confederation, Moncalvo: “Stop the brands damaging the image of Italy”
‘Salsa Mafia’is the name given by a Belgian company to its product, as ‘Mafia’ were an Italian brand to be used For trade purposes – not to mention joking about it. The denounce comes from Coldiretti during the launch of the Observatory on Criminality in Agriculture and on the Agribusiness System. This foundation is aimed at creating a coordinated and widespread system of controls suitable to target illegal actions on the matter.
The Belgian sauce, unfortunately, is not the only example. According to the report made by Coldiretti, on European markets’ shelves it is possible to find lots of ‘Mafia’-branded products, such as ‘Mafiozzo’ coffee, ‘Al Capone’ cigars, ‘Mafia’ pasta, ‘Chilli Mafia’ snacks, ‘Il Padrino’ tonic liquor, ‘Don Corleone’ limoncello, ‘Wicked Cosa Nostradamus’ chilli sauce and even a book of recipes, “The mafia cookbook”.
The newborn Observatory will denounce this kind of situations, among its other tasks; its scientific committee will be led by Giancarlo Caselli, while the President of Coldiretti, Roberto Moncalvo, will be the President and the President of Eurispes will be the Vice President.
“Dealing with the misconception, widely diffused abroad, of identifying Italy with mafia, pizza or pasta, the Foundation wants to be the symbol of the indignation of 65 percent of Italians who, according to a survey by Coldiretti/Ixe, cannot stand the fact that organized crime damages the idea of Italy, who feel offended by this cliché, given that most of the Italian people are not connected with criminals at all,” said Roberto Moncalvo. “Yet, about 12 percent of the people interviewed said it is ‘normal’ given that we exported mafia all over the world; about 19 percent even think it is part of the collective imagination, thanks to movies such as The Godfather, La Piovra and others.”
According to Moncalvo, “organised crime has to be fought with transparency, especially in the Agricola business, where the trade flow is particularly important, with about 33 percent of the total Italian production exported abroad under the ‘Made in Italy’ brand.”
The Observatory aims at creating a system of controls, says Coldiretti, guaranteeing the maximum degree of information to consumers, fighting food counterfeits and adulterations. The Observatory will make its scientific and technical knowledge available through the publication of online magazines, the organisation of congresses, the promotion and the funding of universitary research and with the cooperation with other public and private institutions.
