Parmigiana Reggiano USA to Promote Famed Italian Cheese

Building on last year’s announcement at Summer Fancy Foods that the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium was focusing on promoting the distinctive qualities of its cheese rather than contrast the differences between the artisan cheese created 1,000 years ago and what is called “parmesan,” the consortium announced this week that it has formed an American corporation to further its mission.

Parmigiano Regiggiano USA has launched along with its own website, the consortium announced at media dinner hosted by its president, Nicola Bertinelli. The evening featured a menu with each course including Parmigiano Reggiano and created by brand ambassador Chef Michele Casadei Massari of Lucciola on New York City’s Upper West Side.

Bertinelli said up until last year, members of the consortium brought two suitcases to the Fancy Food Show – one filled with clothes and the other empty. Members would fill their empty suitcase with hundreds of samples of cheese proclaiming to be Parmigiano Reggiano, with half of them found to be incorrectly using the storied cheese name.

But the empty suitcases have been staying home, thanks to the consortium’s new strategy and the creation of its U.S. company.

“We want to build relationships with the distributors and point of sales,” Bertinelli said through an interpreter. “Because we believe (the mislabeled cheeses) were done in a good faith error. Nobody tried to trick anyone.”

The United States is an important market for Parmigiano Reggiano, Bertinelli said. With 47 percent of Parmigiano Reggiano exported from Italy, the United States accounts for 25 percent of the exports. Bertinelli said the consortium, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary, is aiming to have 10 percent of sales growth in the United States sales this year.

There is some talk about imposing tariffs on Parmigiano Reggiano, he said, but this kind of protectionism won’t help the U.S. dairy industry. Unlike the example of tariffs imposed on Chinese electric vehicles that protect the U.S. auto industry, Parmigiano Reggiano accounts for only 5 percent of the market.

“Nobody should be afraid of a country importing 5 percent of a market,” Bertinelli said.

Parmigiano Regiggiano USA also will be working with the U.S. dairy industry to promote the idea of protected designation of origin, which the consortium believes will help to introduce Europeans to distinctly American cheeses from such areas as Vermont and Massachusetts. It also will strive to even the playing field in imports, he said. While imports from Europe to the United States draw fees from $1.50 to $2, imports from the United States to Europe cost $4.

Parmigiano Regiggiano USA is in the process of formulating ways to work with distributors and point of sales to achieve its goals.

“We hope this sparks curiosity,” Bertinelli said.

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