Spotlight on 'Made in Italy' products

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Spotlight on Made in Italy products
Gianpaolo Bruno, Italian Trade Commissioner to the UAE, Oman and Pakistan

The Italian Food Lab will shed light on quality ingredients and genuine products that are an essential part of Italian gastronomy

By Deepa Narwani

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Published: Sun 18 Feb 2018, 12:23 PM

Last updated: Sun 18 Feb 2018, 2:33 PM

Italian cuisine is renowned for encompassing a wide range of regional flavours. It focuses on natural ingredients and follows the Mediterranean way of eating, making it one of the world's healthiest diets. The cuisine is famous not only for pasta and lasagne, but also for dishes that use fresh and healthy ingredients such as olive oil, fruits and vegetables, seafood and whole grains. Armed with a mission to promote authentic Italian food in the region, the Italian Trade Agency (ITA), the Trade Promotion Office of the Italian Embassy, will be hosting the Italian Food Lab for the second year in a row at Gulfood 2018.
In an interview with Khaleej Times, Gianpaolo Bruno, Trade Commissioner to the UAE, Oman and Pakistan, ITA, shares: "Recent international statistics highlight that Italians are slightly behind the Japanese when it comes to having a longer lifespan. One of the reasons for this achievement is that we have one of the best cuisines in the world."
The commissioner explains that Gulfood is an ideal platform to showcase the strengths of 'Made in Italy' products, as the exhibition is a major platform in the Middle East for companies looking to export agri-business products and concepts, and attracts interest from all over the region and beyond.
Bruno highlights: "This year, 190 Italian companies will be participating in the exhibition and they are looking forward to finding partners in order to build long-term commercial relations, not only in the UAE but also in the MENA and MENASA region."
ITA's pavilion at Gulfood will host seminars focused on the Italian agri-business value chain, talks on seals of quality, as well as discussions on the requirements of the market that would help exporters understand the rules and regulations to follow in order to place their products in this market.
The Agency will also host a programme of culinary demonstration and gastronomic tasting hosted by a number of famous chefs, including a session with the three-starred Michelin chef, Heinz Beck, who is one of the most renowned chefs in the world.
"The celebrity chef will be performing a masterclass where he will create Italian dishes from scratch using his creativity and flair and his knowledge of Italian ingredients and dishes," says Bruno. "The Italian Food Lab is almost like a festival that we are organising. Being a government organisation, we won't be promoting a single company, as we don't want to give an unfair advantage. Although at the culinary demonstrations, individual companies will be able to showcase their produce for the first time in the market."

Focus on quality
ITA will offer a fully-fledged programme at Gulfood with an aim to educate, raise awareness of the genuineness of Italian agricultural products and to shed light on the seals of quality that the European Union (EU) assigns to food products. These include the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). Currently, 293 Italian products have been awarded these prestigious labels.
Bruno explains: "These are products that deserve special protection and certification by the EU because they are conceived and produced in particular areas of the Italian region and sometimes they face the problem of the 'Italian-sounding' effect. This means that people from other parts of the world try to replicate this product by just embossing Italian flags onto the packaging of this product or put names that resemble PDO and PGI, but they are not true Italian products. This is causing a lot of damage and hindering a lot of companies in terms of turnover and job losses."
He highlights that this was just a single example of how these Italian-sounding products, which are made in tens and hundreds, create unfair competition in the market. "We would like to educate consumers and the distribution sector that sometimes they have to pay a premium price to get an Italian product, but it is worth it, as there is true genuineness incorporated," he adds.


320 million Italian exports to the UAE

190 Italian companies participating in Gulfood 2018

293 Italian products awarded with PDO and PGI

Hub of activity

For Italy, the UAE is one of the most important markets in the Middle East, says Bruno. "For us, it has high strategic value because it is important not only for its domestic demand but also because it is a major platform and a logistics and commercial hub for the entire MENASA region," he says.
According to Bruno, not many people in the UAE are probably aware of Italian products that come from different culinary traditions. Nonetheless, he highlights, they have received good results in terms of exports.
"Our exports amount to 320 million Euros at the moment. We are not yet reaping the benefits of our potential, but we have a lot of interest from the public. This can be seen through the high number of people that visit Italian restaurants here, and the request of information we receive from new companies and about new products that the market is interested to absorb."
Bruno highlights that another important platform for ITA will be the Expo 2020, which will provide a major opportunity to present new products available for general consumption, and showcase companies that aim to have a long-term establishment in the UAE, as well as across the region.
Currently, ITA is engaged in strategic relations with LuLu Hypermarkets for retail distribution. In the last few months, the Agency has inked a deal with them to promote Italian products in their supermarkets in the entire Gulf region. "We are already recording a good performance in terms of sales recorded by the supermarket," says Bruno.
He concludes: "Our future plan is to keep on strongly investing in knowledge and awareness of having a Mediterranean diet for the public because it enhances the probability of living a longer and healthier life. This is part of our philosophy, which is associated with spreading the word about the Italian way of life."
Italian Trade Agency
The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) is the Government agency which promotes the globalisation of Italian firms, under the aegis of the Ministry of Economic Development. ITA helps to develop, facilitate and promote Italian economic and trade relations with foreign countries, focusing on the needs of SMEs, their associations and partnerships. ITA sustains Italian firms in their internationalisation process, promoting and marketing Italian goods and services, as well as the image of the "Made in Italy" products around the world, while facilitating outward Italian investments and encouraging FDI attraction into Italy.
Bruno explains: "We provide a 360-degree fully-fledged programme of activities. ITA fully supports companies that have a competitive advantage. Foreign markets can often have a high barrier for entry so we try to lower the barriers in order to reduce the time needed to establish a presence and give companies all the information and support they need in order to be successful in the marketplace."
-deepa@khaleejtimes.com


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