The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium has launched its first major campaign in Australia, a three-year, EU co-funded push to separate its PDO cheese from locally made parmesan on supermarket shelves.
The Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano has committed to a three-year marketing investment in Australia, its first at this scale, aimed at showing consumers what separates Parmigiano Reggiano PDO from other parmesan.
The campaign is part of a European Union co-funded program and will roll out across trade and consumer channels over the coming months, followed by education initiatives, tastings and media partnerships.
It arrives six months after Australia and the EU concluded their free trade agreement in March. Under the deal, Australia will protect Parmigiano Reggiano as a geographical indication, but local manufacturers keep the right to call their cheese parmesan. DFAT has confirmed parmesan is not treated as a GI or a translation of the Italian name, and Australian producers face no change.
That leaves the Consortium competing on the label rather than in law. Its message to shoppers is that if the wheel or pack does not say Parmigiano Reggiano PDO, it is not the protected product, regardless of what else appears on the label. The campaign will also be used to explain EU quality schemes more broadly, positioning PDO as a marker for other European foods.
Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano President, Nicola Bertinelli, said Australia had strong potential for the cheese.
“Australia is a market with enormous potential and a growing appetite for authentic, traceable food, which makes this exactly the right moment to invite Australians properly into our world,” Bertinelli said.
“This campaign is about sharing what genuinely goes into a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano PDO, and letting people discover, in their own time, why it belongs in a category of its own.”
Parmigiano Reggiano PDO can only be made from milk, salt and rennet within a defined zone covering Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the left of the Reno River and Mantua to the right of the Po. Every stage, from milking to maturing, must take place inside that zone.
Each wheel carries a mark of origin in its dotted rind and, since 2002, an identifying casein plate. Wheels are inspected at around 12 months and only branded with the oval selection mark if they pass.
The Consortium is also promoting the cheese’s age profiles, from delicate 12 to 19-month wheels through to 35-month-plus product, to move consumers beyond grated cheese for pasta.
The Consortium was established in 1934 and represents all Parmigiano Reggiano PDO producers. Alongside promotion, it pursues action against what it calls Italian-sounding imitations and lobbies for stronger PDO protection outside the EU.
The AFGC had raised concerns during negotiations about the EU’s GI demands and their potential impact on Australian manufacturers.
