Made in Italy agri-food’s global success seems unstoppable. According to analysts, this year Italy’s exports are due to exceed the €50 billion threshold for the first time in history. At the same time, however, so-called Italian Sounding is on the rise: products that “sound” Italian by using a certain name, image or a tricolour flag, but are actually produced elsewhere and usually with lower quality standards than the original. Its turnover is estimated at 100 billion. Twice Italy’s export.

This was discussed at the joint HostMilano and TUTTOFOOD presentation on September the 29th and, as it turns out, it’s not always about saving money. Consumers often believe in good faith that they’re buying an authentic Italian product. So it’s also an issue of knowledge, of the eat-well culture and of paying attention to labels and ingredients. And a lot of work can be done on these. That’s why TUTTOFOOD, which has always been at the forefront in promoting the international reach of Italian products, has launched a collaboration with Filiera Italia, an association par excellence that unites agriculture and the Italian agri-food industry to defend the entire national agri-food chain, which will feature at the event for the first time this year.

“This edition marks the start of an organised and ongoing collaboration between TUTTOFOOD, Filiera Italia and Coldiretti,” commented Luigi Scordamaglia, CEO of Filiera Italia, at the presentation, “Today there’s a new way of communicating the excellence of Made in Italy food to the world. Alongside branding, which is precious at a global market level, it’s becoming increasingly key to establish integrated communications that cover sustainable and integrated supply chains, the irreplaceable value of agricultural production, in short, the unique Italian agri-food sector model. That itself is made up of regions, distinctiveness, precision agriculture, research and tradition. This is the model that Fiera Milano, Filiera Italia and Coldiretti will present at TUTTOFOOD as well as many worldwide events that will follow.”