Italian consortium to present P.D.O. cheeses at Gulfood 2015

AT a press conference in Gulfood, AFIDOP, the association of Italian protected designation of origin cheeses, and the ITA Italian Trade Commission will highlight the production techniques that go into six P.D.O. (Protected Designation of Origin) Italian cheeses: Pecorino Romano, Pecorino Toscano, Mozzarella di bufala, Grana Padano, Gorgonzola and Asiago.

“Italian P.D.O. cheeses are deeply rooted in history and in the everyday life of our country," says Luca Cracco, director at Asiago Cheese PDO Consortium. "Their fame is strictly linked to the land in which they are born and we owe it to the hard work of our ancestors, who knew a unique and inimitable way to transform milk and how to maintain such a tradition. It is also thanks to them that today these cheeses triumph on the tables of restaurants and in families all over the world.”

P.D.O. refers to the region and production area of a specific cheese, whose characteristics are strictly related to a geographic area, the only place where it can be produced. Most traditional Italian cheeses have the PDO mark, which means they go through a detailed production procedure that establishes a product’s characteristics, including production technique, labelling and marketing rules. Products that comply have the PDO label and European logo.

Italy has 43 P.D.O. and one P.G.I. cheese and dairy products, making it the second largest producer of P.D.O. cheese in the world.

Learn more at the conference on 9 February, 2015, from 12 to 2pm at the Dubai World Trade Centre, first floor, Abu Dhabi Hall meeting room (from the main entrance to hall 5,6,7,8 next to IBIS hotel entrance).