A famed northern Italian salmon has kept Italy top of the European quality-food charts.
On Friday the so-called Cremona salmon, which is fished and prepared in time-honoured ways across Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto, earned Italy a record 164th quality seal from the European Union.
A quarter of the EU's quality products are Italian, the most of any member state.
France is second with 20% but Italy has been steadily pulling away over the last few months.
The Cremona salmon earned a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) seal, the EU's second-highest honour.
Two other northern Italian products, a prized sweet chestnut from Cuneo in Piedmont and a white asparagus native to the Bassano area north of Venice, preceded the salmon into the roll of honour.
The 'Castagna di Cuneo' chestnut won a PGI label while the 'Asparago Bianco di Bassano' earned the EU's highest seal of approval, a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) laurel.
The three new notches on Italy's food-quality belt come just weeks after another pair, rice from Biella north of Turin and an orange from Puglia's Gargano peninsula, were recognised as special products.
The 'Riso di Baraggia Biellese' got a PDO while the 'Arancia del Gargano' picked up a PGI.
The seals of approval are aimed at protecting genuine products from inferior clones.
The EU now recognises the quality of some 750 food products. These carry not only the PDO or PGI labels but also the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) label.
Recent Italian additions to the list include hazelnuts and chestnuts from Viterbo north of Rome, the classic 'Ascoli olive' - a crunchy olive au gratin from the Marche city - and crisp apples from the northern Val di Non region.
Three other regional specialities, Rieti chestnuts, Tuscia olive oil from northern Lazio and Genoese basil - a key ingredient in Genoa's world-famous pesto sauce - also joined Italy's proud list.
Past winners of prize badges have included Rome's ricotta cheese, saffrons from l'Aquila in Abruzzo and San Gimignano in Tuscany, fatty bacon (lardo) from Colonnata near Florence, and honey from the Lunigiana region of northern Tuscany with a PDO label - the first Italian honey to win such recognition.
Other recent Italian gains have been five top olive oils, bergamot flavouring, Roman suckling lamb or 'abbacchio' and goose salame from Mortara near Pavia.
Quality certificates have also been awarded to prickly pears grown on Mt Etna and the tiny but tasty Pachino tomato from another part of Sicily.
Buffalo mozzarella from the region around Naples has also earned protection.
A raft of products are still lined up for EU seals of approval, including artichokes from the Ancient Greek site at Paestum south of Naples.
