- Spicy enough, but still to be discovered between taste, health and territory.
The Italian chilli pepper is the protagonist of the event organized by Crea in collaboration with the National Rural Network, where researchers and producers, in the presence of Undersecretary Mipaaf Francesco Battistoni, discussed a product with great potential among Italian gastronomic symbols.
In the face of increasingly high demand, national production is scarce and covers only 30% of the requirement.
The rest, according to Crea, comes from non-EU markets (2 thousand tons per year from China, Egypt, Turkey), at bargain prices (1/5 less) and with low quality standards that penalize the supply chain.
In Italy, in fact, from 10 kg of fresh chilli pepper 1 kg of dried product is obtained, ground into 100% pure powder and marketable for 15 euros, while the same product from China has a cost of only 3 euros and is the result of very coarse harvesting and processing techniques, with which the plant is entirely shredded, with poor quality guarantees and phytosanitary requirements.
Research is committed to relaunching a supply chain, protecting the product more.
The creation of denominations of territorial origin would give the consumer a guarantee of quality, traceability, healthiness and an added value adequate to the productive part, incentivized to increase its extensive cultivation, present today especially in Calabria (100 hectares, with 25% of production), Lazio, Basilicata, Campania and Abruzzo.
In this way, we would meet the ever growing demand of the food industry and the needs of exports (50% of Calabrian production goes to the Netherlands).
In addition to quality certifications, according to Crea, it is also necessary to modernize the processing techniques to reduce production costs, starting with the varietal improvement of the cultivars,
