The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Christophe Hansen , has announced the launch, starting next year, of a specific European Action Plan for PDO and PGI agri-food products ( announced during the VII Forum on Food Quality in Siena organised by the Qualivita Foundation; Editor's note ).
The document will contain a series of measures and investment lines dedicated to the Geographical Indications (GI) system, with the aim of expanding its economic and cultural value and fully implementing EU Regulation 1143 of 2024. The main European organizations in the sector have concentrated in a Green Paper what they consider eight strategic priorities for the development of the quality product system in the coming years.
Even Grana Padano DOP , being the most consumed of the DOP products, is called upon to indicate critical issues and priorities.
"The greatest challenges for PDO and PGI products come from imitations, especially outside the European Union, which recognized them in 1996, and, in the dairy sector, from the raw material market," emphasized Renato Zaghini, president of the Consortium . "A prime example concerns Grana Padano, but also other PDO cheeses: when milk prices are unprofitable, the entire raw material is processed, generating negative effects ranging from excessive increases in cheese production to a drop in price."
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Compared to 2024, production increased by 418,537 wheels, with a trend across all provinces. Mantua leads the way, with 1,820,440 wheels. Brescia follows with 1,521,237, Cremona with 958,607, Piacenza with 691,725, Vicenza with 368,419, Padua with 141,041, Trento with 137,785, Bergamo with 129,099, Verona with 110,538, Lodi with 104,311, Cuneo with 51,859, and Rovigo with 18,629. It should be noted that the 2025 regional breakdown will be calculated once the CSQA has collected data on the wheels produced outside the Veneto region with Veneto milk and the wheels produced in the Veneto region with milk outside the Veneto region. But the podium with Mantua, Brescia, and Verona, which with these figures boast over 70% of production, appears undisputed. The final figure for December 2025 showed 567,865 wheels processed, an increase of 7.85% compared to the same month in 2024. Production for 2025 thus surpassed a historic threshold, rising to 6,053,690 wheels, an increase of 7.43% in terms of wheels and 7.72% in weight compared to 2024.
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Source: The Zootechnical Informer