White onion of Margherita IGP, focus on innovation for a certified production of 1.1 million

Confirmed CSQA for controls on the PGI supply chain with the aim of achieving a strong positioning in the fruit and vegetable sector.
The Protection Consortium: "sustainability, technology and the transformation chain for growth"

With the Ministerial Decree n. 0275307, the authorization to CSQA to carry out the checks for the Cipolla Bianca di Margherita PGI.

A certified excellence that contributes to the growth of the quality supply chains of Puglia - the ninth region by economic impact DOP IGP - which has 60 agri-food and wine products with Geographical Indication in the regional territory, a heritage, according to the data of the Ismea-Qualivita 2021 Report, from 623 million euros to production involving 16,074 operators .

The Apulian fruit, vegetable and cereal sector has 9 Geographical Indications for a production value of over 2.6 million euros : the White Onion of Margherita PGI is the second product in the sector with a production value of about 1.1 million euros , (excluding the value created by the packaging which must necessarily take place on site) thanks to the work of 39 operators, who produce over 3,100 tons of certified product (Sources: Consortium, Ismea-Qualivita Report 2021).

The Consortium for the Enhancement and Protection of the White Cipolla di Margherita PGI has been promoting and safeguarding this supply chain since 2016, preserving the specificities of the product and laying the foundations for the development of the sector through important process and technological innovation projects, with the aim of achieving high standards of environmental sustainability, automating some stages of production (also due to the scarcity of skilled labour) and increasing the shelf life of the product. Another decisive objective for facing the challenges of the future is the solicitation for the creation of a transformation chain that creates new resources and gives continuity to the product on the market.

The decision to reconfirm CSQA, the leading certification body in Italy in the field of Geographical Indications, is dictated by the desire to continue the work undertaken as stated by Giuseppe Castiglione, president of the protection consortium : “Together with CSQA we started the certification process and for us it was not only the body that controls and certifies the correspondence between the provisions of the specification and the production in the area, but also a careful suggester of indications to improve the Consortium's activity both in terms of protection and promotion. The typicality of the Cipolla Bianca di Margherita PGI both in the production and in the organoleptic characteristics has found in CSQA an institution that has been able to understand its value and decisive role for the economy of our territory”.

" Our confirmation as a control body" underlines Pietro Bonato, General Manager and CEO of CSQA - " is the result of the synergistic work carried out on the front of the guarantee and enhancement of this symbolic product of the Apulian fruit and vegetable sector. His particular cultivation technique, characterized by the ability to obtain the seed on sandy soil, to create seedbeds, to transplant the seedlings protecting them from wind erosion with straw, and then to collect them by hand, are unique knowledge that has survived up to the present day, a guarantee of tradition and quality. We are therefore proud to continue on the path undertaken and of the renewed trust in CSQA".

The Cipolla Bianca di Margherita PGI confirms the value of the PDO PGI product portfolio certified by CSQA , which currently has 71 Geographical Indications : a fact that underlines the desire to increasingly accompany the development of quality agri-food supply chains, a symbol of Made in Italy and the vocation of the territories .

>> SEE THE DATA SHEET OF THE WHITE ONION OF MARGHERITA IGP <<