The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry (MASAF) has authorized CSQA to carry out checks on Geographical Indications previously entrusted to the Check Fruit organization , following the acquisition of the branch of the company dedicated to regulated and voluntary certification activities of Check Fruit.With the new ministerial decree, which came into force on July 1st, CSQA has been delegated to inspect ten new PDO and PGI products, all belonging to the fruit and vegetable sector.
With this new authorization, CSQA now controls a total of 98 Geographical Indications in numerous product categories, out of a national total of 334 PDO, PGI, and TSG products in the agri-food sector alone.
This data confirms the central role of the Organization in the certification of Geographical Indication products.
Excellence distributed across 15 Italian regions , involving over 19,000 operators , for a production value of 5.03 billion euros, equal to 52% of the overall value of the Italian PDO PGI TSG food sector.
Among the new products entrusted to CSQA are fruit and vegetable excellences of absolute importance for the national agri-food heritage: Sicilian Blood Orange PGI, Trentino Apples PGI, Bologna Potato PDO, Emilia-Romagna Pear PGI, Calabrian Clementines PGI, Castel del Rio Chestnuts PGI, Romagna Shallots PGI, Altedo Green Asparagus PGI, Cantello Asparagus PGI, and San Cono Prickly Pear PDO.
Even in the specific PDO and PGI fruit and vegetable sector , CSQA confirms its primacy with 45 PDO and PGI supply chains controlled out of a total of 129 at a national level .
The certified supply chains are distributed across 10 Italian regions, involve approximately 9,000 operators, and represent 39% of the total value of the Italian Geographical Indication fruit and vegetable sector.
This authorization represents a further milestone in CSQA's growth and enhances the wealth of expertise built over thirty-five years of service to certified Italian agri-food supply chains and the regions of origin that represent them.
Today , CSQA represents the national reference point for the Geographical Indications system, contributing daily to ensuring compliance with production specifications, producer protection, and consumer trust through an independent and institutionally recognized control system.
"The authorization represents a very important step," emphasizes Maria Chiara Ferrarese, General Manager and CEO of CSQA . "For us, this operation is first and foremost a responsibility .
It means making available to supply chains the technical skills, rigour and independence necessary to protect certified products, producers and consumers.
The trust confirmed by the Consortia and the operators involved strengthens our commitment to ensuring an authoritative, credible, and local control system.
Geographical Indications are a strategic asset for the competitiveness of Made in Italy products, and their guarantee system must be able to evolve alongside the supply chains.
For this reason, we will continue to invest in skills, innovation, and the digitalization of control processes , developing increasingly effective and efficient tools capable of responding to the new needs for traceability, transparency, and valorization of certified products.
The goal is to help make the certification system increasingly robust, modern, and suited to the future challenges of the Italian agri-food sector."