The 2025 edition of Anuga, the world's leading food and beverage trade fair, also marks a new step by the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium to protect the Italian PDO from counterfeit Parmigiano Reggiano. This is not the first time that the Consortium has identified cases of illegality during this trade fair, particularly the use of evocative PDO names, which are prohibited within the EU. Thanks to a European Union Regulation that provides broad protection for GIs and several rulings by the European Court of Justice, products that do not comply with the "Parmigiano Reggiano" PDO specifications and that bear such names cannot be marketed or advertised under any circumstances.

It is worth noting the ruling obtained by the Commission and the Consortium in February 2008 before the Court of Justice, which ruled that the term "Parmesan" is not generic but must be considered an evocation of the name "Parmigiano Reggiano" and cannot be used for cheeses that do not comply with the PDO specifications. The Consortium estimates that the turnover of counterfeit Parmesan outside the European Union is over €2 billion, approximately 200,000 tons of product, or three times the volume of Parmigiano Reggiano exported.

As it does every two years, during its surveillance activities at the fair, the Consortium encountered several non-compliant situations and immediately reported them to the competent German authorities, specifically the Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz Nrw, for intervention. Specifically, the Consortium reported a sauce called "Garlic Parmesan Flavored Sauce," in which the term "Parmesan" refers to a flavoring, and therefore an ingredient that clearly does not comply with the PDO specifications.

The German authorities acted promptly, adopting appropriate administrative measures to remove the non-compliant product. Furthermore, the Consortium discovered a plant-based product, marketed as a cheese substitute, with the name "ParVegano," which was also deemed suggestive. In this case, the Consortium chose to send a letter directly to the operator, through its lawyers, demanding that they remove the product from display, which was effectively done within a few hours.

"This new incident of infringement within the Union demonstrates that it's time for a significant leap forward: we need common rules for European trade fair organizations to ensure truly 'fake-free' events and avoid costly and unnecessary subsequent interventions by consortia and courts," commented Nicola Bertinelli , president of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium.