On next 22th January the positive three-year period of initiatives dedicated to the enhancement of three among the most important gastronomic products of South Tyrol will end. It involved the three respective producers associations that protect and represent their products. During these three years, several gastronomic events and conferences, about 1,500 tastings, campaigns and press trips, as well as many other activities, were realised. They involved four Countries - Italy, Germany, Austria, and Czech Republic. Many prestigious journalists who work in this sector and thousands of consumers had the opportunity of coming to know and appreciate the intense flavour of PDO ‘Stelvio’ cheese, tasty varieties of PGI ‘Alto Adige’ apple, and genuine goodness of PGI ‘Alto Adige’ speck. Andreas Moser, President of ‘Speck Alto Adige’ Producers Association, explains: ‘Both press events and incoming travels taken by journalists coming from all our markets allowed us to personally inform these opinion leaders as for quality systems’.
There is much satisfaction with the results achieved among the leaders of the producers associations who collaborated combining ideas, skills, and creativity, in order to communicate and appreciate the high quality of their PGI and PDO products, recognized and protected by the European Union.
Georg Kössler, president of ‘Mela Alto Adige’ Producers Association concerning apples, says: ‘This project was very successful thanks to both excellent cooperation among the producers associations and effectiveness of the actions taken to transmit the value of PGI and PDO productions’. Andreas Moser shares the same opinion: ‘Through the support of the European Union, and with a good organizational structure, we have been able to get good results mainly in our core markets, such as Italy and Germany’. Everyone agrees on the importance of cooperation among producers associations. Reinalter Joachim, president of ‘Stelvio’ cheese producers association, says: ‘It was a very good synergy, union of quality products that strengthened the image of the whole campaign. It is crucial that the European Union recognizes the quality of our products through the protection of PGI and PDO brands, which guarantees to the consumer origin, traceability, and safety of processing processes throughout the supply chain. The many tastings offered within many of the large retail outlets both in Italy and in the other three Countries in which the campaign took place were fruitful and very important. This is Georg Kössler’s opinion: ‘The tastings in stores represented an opportunity to speak directly to the customer’, and according to Joachim Reinalter: ‘The tastings were essential, because they made it possible to transmit the image of South Tyrol through the genuineness of its products of excellence’.
PDO Formaggio Stelvio
Consorzio Tutela Formaggio Stelvio
Via Innsbruck, 43
I-39100 Bolzano
Phone +39 0471 451 111
Fax +39 0471 451 333
