Quality, Territorial identity, Food Safety and protection of the environment. These are four good reasons to choose products with PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) certifications. These two quality signs represent a guarantee, reinforced by the protection of the European Union, to the benefit of consumers who can know with certainty the origin and characteristics of the food they purchase, rigorously produced in observance of precise specifications. Furthermore, the PDO and PGI certifying system encourages the various agricultural productions and represents, for producers, a form of protection against possible imitations of well-known products.

PDO (Protected Designation of Origin)

This is a recognition conferred by the European Community on agricultural and food products originating in a determined or delimited area, whose qualities or characteristics are due to that specific geographical environment, inclusive of natural and human factors such as: climate, quality of the soil, tradition and local technical competencies. The designation is conferred only on products obtained with a recognized and defined production procedure in concordance with explicit specifications, that require all stages of production, processing and preparation to be carried out in the determined geographical area.

The European Community has changed the colours of PDO symbol from yellow and blu in to yellow and red in July 2008, to enable consumers to distinguish easier between protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications. However, the packaging or labels including the old Community symbol may be used until 1 May 2010.

PGI (Protected Geographical Indication)

Recognition given by the European Community to agricultural and food products whose quality depends on a specific region with peculiar characteristics that make the products unique and not reproducible outside that region. The PGI mark is assigned when at least one of the stages of production, processing and preparation of the product takes place within the region indicated, as established by explicit production specifications.

How to recognize quality

A specific blue and yellow logo, which ideally represents a sun with a ploughed land at the centre, surrounded by twelve stars, symbol of the European Union, allows the identification of food products included in the protection systems PDO and PGI.