L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 8 FRANCESCA BEZZONE T here is no peace to Italy's m o s t f a m o u s c h e e s e : Parmigiano Reggiano. If counterfeit varieties of it were not enough to alarm producers, in the past couple of years they also had to face the presence of a criminal ring specialized in the theft of luxury food products, tangy parmesan topping the list of their favorite booty. Last week the Italian police finally managed to dismantle one of these gangs, after a year and a half of work. The gang was responsible for a s e r i e s o f b u r g l a r i e s i n t h e Emilia Romagna region, where they unlawfully got their mitts on 100.000 euro (about 110.000 U S D ) w o r t h o f w i n e s a n d 80.000 euro (just over 85.000 U S D ) w o r t h o f P a r m i g i a n o Reggiano. Balsamic vinegar, another popular - and legally protected - product of Italy was among the criminals' favorites to steal. One of the last grand thefts took place in Guastalla, w h e r e 5 0 . 0 0 0 e u r o ( a l m o s t 5 4 . 0 0 0 U S D ) w o r t h o f P a r m i g i a n o R e g g i a n o w a s stolen. The goods were deprived of their watermark and sold, even though it is still unclear whether they remained in Italy or entered the international mar- ket. Eleven people were arrest- e d , i n c l u d i n g f o u r t i e d w i t h organized crime. The video showing members of the gang rolling huge wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano out of a deposit looks like a cartoon take: yet, it is visual evidence of a crime activity which has been costing to Parmigiano's produc- ers over 6 million euro (6.5 mil- l i o n U S D ) s i n c e 2 0 1 5 . A c c o r d i n g t o I t a l i a n p r e s s , almost every cheese maker in the Reggio Emilia and Bologna areas has been victim to a bur- glary at least once. Smaller producers are espe- cially targeted because they are o f t e n n o t a s w e l l e q u i p p e d against theft as larger compa- nies. This is a source of potential damage not only to the food industry, but also to Italy's own precious family-run businesses, for which the loss of a season's worth of parmesan may translate in the end of the activity. By 2015, when "Operation Wine and Cheese" was launched by national police, the number of high end food thefts had risen c o n s i d e r a b l y i n E m i l i a Romagna, to the point that night patrols were created to protect farms and police had implement- ed a stricter stop-and-search pol- icy on vans and lorries in the area, in an attempt to lower risks and unmask culprits. However, the real break in the case came when it was discovered one of the gang members, involved professionally in regional agri- culture, acted as an informer for the group. E x p e r t s a g r e e o n t h e f a c t improving security is a must, but that it has to be done is spe- c i f i c w a y s : s i m p l y a d d i n g alarms or videocameras is no longer sufficient, as thieves act in large groups of 10 to 15 peo- ple and are able to ransack a deposit within 10 minutes, too short a time for the police to arrive, considering most of these dairy farms are isolated and far from urban centers. T h e d i s m a n t l e m e n t o f t h e Emilian gang is just the begin- ning of a series of interventions i n t h e r e g i o n t o s a f e g u a r d Parmigiano Reggiano producers and their products. 9 million euro (over 9.5 million USD) are to be invested in the creation of a structure of about 10.000 square meters, able to contain up to 170.000 wheels of parmesan, 8 7 % o f t h e p r o v i n c e o f Modena's production, stacked on more than 85 km of shelves. The project, which is at its initial stages, has been presented by Gema Magazzini Generali, an Emilia Romagna- based society which already owns a smaller cheese caveau in the province of Reggio Emilia, currently home t o 2 3 0 t h o u s a n d s w h e e l s o f parmesan. I n d e e d , a n e w f r o n t i e r o f criminal activity in Italy: luxury food is one of the country's most relevant sources of income, as well as a symbol of the Made in Italy brand's excellence all over the world and it is, for this rea- son, safeguarded and protected by several national and EU stan- dards and denominations, aiming at protecting it from counterfeit- ing. In the case of theft, howev- er, the product sold is, in all and for all, an original made in Italy, as a consequence much more difficult to trace and to recog- nize: it is for this reason that pre- venting burglaries is the best way to protect the country's food excellence and the livelihood of many small to medium size pro- ducers, the very heart and soul of Italy's food production. Last week the Italian police finally managed to dismantle a criminal ring specialized in the theft of luxury food products like wine and Parmigiano Reggiano Italian crime's new frontier: luxury food theft NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS The dismantlement of the Emilian gang is just the beginning of a series of interventions to safeguard Parmigiano Reggiano producers and their products

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