A new investigation by Report tells how, despite the fact that the PDO Parma ham specification clearly states that at least 50 per cent of the feed for the farms must come from the territory, the control body Csqa, already suspended in the past, trusts self-certifications without checking in the field

A new investigation by Report reveals how, despite the fact that the PDO Parma Ham specification clearly states that at least 50% of the feed for the farms must come from the territory, the Csqa control body, already suspended in the past, trusts self-certifications without checking in the field.

The episode on pig farms

The episode to be aired on Sunday 17 November will in fact deal with pig farms, as Salvagente’s Giulia Innocenzi, who edited the report, explains: ‘We will start with African swine fever, because Italy is one of the countries most affected in Europe by African swine fever, if the government’s strategies have failed. We have exclusive images from Food for Profit’s investigative team on the culling, both in Lombardy and Piedmont, where we also show that last year’s company, the one that had ended up in Lollobrigida’s question time on why those culling methods with electrocution were used, which were also used this year, continued to work. Then the Parma ham consortium, the fact that the farms that we showed last year with all those critical issues were not culled’.

The feed controls

As mentioned above, the feed for the Parma Ham Consortium ‘s pigs must come entirely, or at least 50%, from the ‘restricted geographical area’. But, according to some experts consulted by Report, including Dario Frisio, Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Milan, this may not be sufficient . One figure above all: maize areas have halved, in ten years about half a million hectares of maize have been lost, of which six and a half million tonnes a year are important, including a significant GMO quota.

The audio of the conversation between the director of Csqa and a farmer

Returning specifically to the feed for the pigs from whose meat PDO Parma ham will be produced, Report broadcasts the audio of a conversation between Maria Chiara Ferrarese, director general of the control body Csqa, which monitors compliance with the specifications. Ferrarese tells the interlocutor, a breeder: ‘You must not divulge this. We have practically omitted feed control from the plan. Talking to the association we realised that the 50 per cent raw material requirement is a big problem and they don’t want there to be checks on their farms. But beware: the ministry does not know about this.