Italy shuddered Thursday at the prospect of culinary glory Parmigiano Reggiano losing a landmark case at the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Producers and officials appealed for government action to stave off a looming ruling by the court letting Germany off the hook for violating European regulations protecting the authenticity of quality food products.
On Thursday the ECJ's advocate-general Jan Mazak recommended that no action be taken against Germany for allowing the name Parmesan to be used for a German cheese.
Mazak argued that it had not been proven that consumers were being fooled into buying Parmesan when they really wanted Parmigiano.
"This is, quite frankly, intolerable," said Senator Loredana De Petris, a Green party member of Italy's parliamentary agriculture committee.
"The Italian government must make a formal protest to Brussels," she added.
Italian farmers union Coldiretti said an unfavourable ruling could open the flood-gates to clones across Europe.
It noted that the situation was already "catastrophic" in much of the rest of the world, citing fake Parmigiano made across South America and Asia.
FRESH FAKES.
Coldiretti officials were talking at the opening of a Rome show on the piracy of famed Italian products like Parmigiano, Parma ham and buffalo mozzarella.
Among the exhibits were a new 'Modena balsamic vinegar' made in Germany, a 'Romulus and Remus' olive oil from Spain, and a 'basilico and Bolognese' sauce from Estonia.
Only about 2% of Italian cheeses sold in the United States are from Italy, Coldiretti said - while there is a new Chinese Pecorino (the famed Roman goats cheese) featuring a smiling cow on the label.
The ECJ is set to rule on the Parmigiano case in the next few weeks.
In the majority of cases, the court follows the advice of its advocate-general.
But Italian Farm Minister Paolo De Castro was optimistic, saying there was evidence that "the consolidated opinion of the court should come out in Italy's favour".
The case was brought against Germany by the European Commission after the ECJ issued a non-binding opinion in 2002 that the word "parmesan" can only be used to market the real thing: Italy's Parmigiano Reggiano, which has the EU's Protect Designation of Origin (PDO) status.
The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium has had to become increasingly assertive in defending its product's name from improper use. So far it has been successful.
It scored a key legal victory six years ago when it managed to stop an American cheesemaker from using the Parmigiano tag on its grated cheese.
This was the fourth time in ten years that a US company had been forced to remove the label from its product.
In 2003, Italy lobbied to have cloned American parmesan denied permission to export worldwide and the US product later failed in its bid to be admitted to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Codex Alimentarius.
Parmigiano Reggiano continues to be sold in cloned versions in South America, Japan, Germany and Britain, while in France 'parmesan' refers exclusively to the Italian cheese.
In Brazil a pirated version is marketed as Parmesao, while Argentina calls its fake parmesan Regianito.
With origins in the 12th century, authentic Parmigiano is a uniquely hard but crystal-grained, crumbly and tart-sweet cheese which adorns most pasta dishes and is prized as baby food. It is not cut but wedged open.
