Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium targets counterfeit products at Paris food fair

The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium has intervened at the SIAL food and beverage trade fair in Paris to protect the Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) status of its cheese. During surveillance activities, the Consortium identified several non-compliant products and requested intervention from French authorities, specifically the Direction Départementale de la Protection des Populations de la Seine-Saint-Denis.

French authorities removed six non-compliant products from public display. These included a cheese from the United States labeled ‘Shredded Parmesan cheese’, a Ukrainian cheese using the evocative name ‘Parmental cheese’, a ‘Creamy Basil with Parmesan Cheese’ sauce that contained no Parmigiano Reggiano, and an Egyptian ‘Ranch PARMESAN – Sauce’ also lacking the authentic cheese. Other flagged items included ‘Buffalo Garlic Parmesan Sauce’ and ‘Truffle Parmesan Sauce’.

The Consortium estimates that the global trade in counterfeit ‘Parmesan’ outside the European Union exceeds 2 billion euros, totaling approximately 200,000 tons of product. This volume is nearly three times the amount of authentic Parmigiano Reggiano exported.