“The fight against the phenomenon of Italian Sounding and the counterfeiting activities of Italian agri-food products at the Anuga 2023 fair proved to be fully effective”. This was stated in a Federalimentare (italian federation of food industry) note, commenting on the control and verification activities carried out among the stands of the Anuga international fair, which took place in Cologne between 7 and 11 October (read EFA News), where ten cases of Italian Sounding.

“Federalimentare, present at the fair with the Authentic Italian Check Point Desk and assisted by the Indicam [association for protecting Intellectual Property rights, editor's note] team, which made use of the collaboration of the Italian Sounding eV Association with its task force of German lawyers, managed to identify and report the ten violations, which mainly concerned the marketing and sale of pasta. The analysis, carried out directly at the fair, highlighted that the foods were presented to consumers with references to Italianness, such as the tricolor, descriptions in Italian and other obvious visual, phonetic and labeling imitations. The legal team therefore took steps to have the products in question withdrawn from the fair and warned the manufacturing companies."

“Our activity as an industry, which produces foods and drinks made in Italy, has always had among its prerogatives the commitment to counteract market distortion phenomena,” explained the president of Federalimentare Paolo Mascarino. “After years of constant presence of the Federation at Anuga, with dozens and dozens of counterfeit foods discovered and removed from the market, we can see that in this edition the number of exhibitors who tried to present altered products to the public has significantly reduced”.

“This year - continued Mascarino - we have given a strong signal of protection of our Made in Italy by withdrawing from the exhibition all ten cases of Italian Sounding in the pasta sector. It is also very significant that no cases of counterfeiting have been found in sectors where the phenomenon was widespread in the past, such as cheeses, cured meats, tomato sauces and preserves. This is excellent news, which rewards the great work carried out in recent years on the topic by Federalimentare in defense of Italian producers".

“It is however clear – concluded Mascarino – that our commitment against Italian Sounding does not stop at the Anuga Fair. Our action will be increasingly stronger on all European and international markets, to protect the interests of our food industry and consumers".

For the president of Indicam Mario Peserico , "this result confirms the operational role of Indicam in the concrete protection of the value of Italianness against undue usurpations, thanks to the significant contribution and technical competence of our associated professionals".