« Go back Italian Master Smokers Consortium
The Italian Master Smokers Consortium, established to preserve and enhance the production of smoked salmon throughout the entire peninsula, was founded by four key players in the industry (Agroittica di Calvisano, Foodlab, Sicily Food di Aragona, and Starlaks), with Gianpaolo Ghilardotti (Foodlab) serving as president.
The Consortium was created with the intention of collaborating to establish clear production rules and transparent procedures. The dual objective is to "provide useful advice to help the Italian consumer choose the best smoked salmon and communicate to the market an excellence of Made in Italy". The initiative is based on shared values among the four companies: "respect for the consumer, passion for quality and services and the utmost attention to the highest quality standards throughout all individual production phases".
The challenge for the newborn Consortium is to provide consumers with all the necessary information to make an informed choice when purchasing salmon, given the extensive variety available on the market today. The "rules" that the Consortium follows are:
- Processing must take place in Italy;
- Salting must be strictly dry, without brine injection;
- For caught products, fishing zones and related sustainability certifications must be declared;
- For farmed products, there is an obligation for it to grow in safe and certified farms according to animal welfare regulations;
- Traceability and certification of raw materials must be clear with exhaustive and verifiable indications;
- All regulations for food safety must be scrupulously respected;
- Product labeling must be clear and precise;
- Annual audits by a third-party certification body.
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