Italian food is looking to the Far East to enhance its reputation for excellence.
Italy is the biggest foreign exhibitor at Asia's largest food fair, Foodex, which opened Tuesday in Tokyo.
Significantly, it was given the honour of cutting the ribbon with host Japan.
Farm Minister Paolo De Castro said "the East is prime territory for Italy's quality products, which have gained a record number of seals of approval and are recognised everywhere as marks of excellence".
"It's no accident that Italy's food and wine exports to Japan registered a 10% leap last year when other products went the other way".
Parmigiano Reggiano is leading the cheese charge along with other foodie favourites while fabled hams such as Prosciutto di Parma and San Daniele are appearing in Italy's pavilion, the largest in the fair, alongside newer export stars like mortadella.
The president of the Foreign Trade Institute, Umberto Vattani, will lead a symposium looking at how to protect and preserve food excellence.
"The seminar will show how much Italy focuses on food safety and keeping up time-honoured traditions," Vattani said.
It will also feature the latest high-tech aids for upholding food standards and protecting consumers, Vattani said.
These will include a new web-based system which will allow wine buyers to trace Italian wines "right back to the vineyard, and even to the vine", Vattani said.
