The agriculture ministry on Tuesday authorized the withdrawal from the market of 100,000 wheels of prized Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and an equal number of Grana Padano wheels in order to stabilise their prices.
Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia said that the subsidies granted under European Union law for taking the cheese off the market would be given to charity.
''What we are faced with is not a market crisis nor one of quality but of the discrepancy between what it costs to make the cheese and what producers are able to sell it for''.
The minister said similar measures may be taken to help producers of other cheese for which cost more to produce than what they sell for.
These included TrentinGrana, a hard cheese similar to the more famous Parmigiano and Grana, Asiago, Taleggio and Pecorino Romano.
Prices for Italy's prized cheeses have fallen below their production costs in part because of the ability of major supermarkets to buy bulk quantities at lower prices.
The Confederation of Italian Farmers (Cia) welcomed the ministry move to withdraw the wheels and that producers and the major distributors now needed to sit down and re-negotiate prices.
According to Cia, a kilo of Parmigiano Reggiano in discount supermarkets costs as low as seven euros a kilo while it costs over eight to produce.
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.
Grana Padano is similar but whereas Parmigiano is made in the area around the city of Parma in the Reggio Emilia region, Grana is made in the Po Valley in the region of Lombardy.
