The phenomenon of “Italian sound” — fraudulent imitations of Italian products — generates around 100 billion dollars globally, and Italy seeks to combat it on all fronts.
However, sometimes falsification of the "Made in Italy" occurs on Italian soil. The Finance Guard, from Torre Annunziata, seized more than two tons of fake Gragnano IGP paste in a factory associated with the Protection Consortium: the company in question acquired the paste in Boscoreale, in the Naples region, to later resell it with the brand Gragnano IGP after local packaging and labeling.
At the factory, more than 400 ready-made packages in Christmas packaging were seized and documentation proving the purchase of the product already processed by factories outside the territory of Gragnano was also found.
During the inspection, the absence of the traditional bronze matrices necessary for the production of some pasta formats was noted, along with multiple and unjustified discrepancies between the production records found in the laboratories and the batches of pasta stored in the company's warehouse.
The packages of counterfeit pasta were seized, pending the necessary technical examinations, after which the possibility of using them for charity will be assessed.
The birth of PGI Gragnano Dry Paste dates back to 2013. Currently, in the municipality of Campano, there are 23 factories with more than 300 employees, and the turnover is around 300 million euros — around R$ 1,6 billion. 40% of production is exported, representing around 10% of total Italian pasta exports in the world.
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