Earthquake hits cheese production in northern Italy

* Italy’s famous hard cheeses hit hard by quake

* Some 400,000 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana
Padano damaged

* Farmers lobby says more than 200 million euros damage to
food industry

By Philip Pullella

ROME, May 22 (Reuters) – The earthquake that struck northern
Italy will affect production and export of some of the area’s
most internationally famous culinary delicacies – Parmigiano
Reggiano and Grana Padano cheeses.

National farmers’ group Coldiretti has estimated damage to
agriculture in the area, one of Italy’s most fertile and
productive zones, at more than 200 million euros.

Some of the worst damage was to the production of Parmigiano
Reggiano, also called Parmesan cheese, and its eternal rival,
Grana Padano.

Both of the very hard seasoned cheeses are grated over pasta
dishes, thinly sliced on salads or served in small, irregular
pieces at fashionable parties worldwide.

Their respective passionate devotees can be compared to fans
supporting different sports teams in the same town.

Some 300,000 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano and 100,000 of
Grana Padano, each weighing about 40 kg (88 pounds), were
damaged when they fell off shelves in warehouses where they were
undergoing the two-year-long seasoning process.

Coldiretti said some 10 percent of the production of
Parmigiano Reggiano and two percent of Grana Padano was affected
by the quake.

At a retail price of some 25 euros a kg ($15.00 a pound) in
Italy and more abroad, Parmigiano Reggiano is one of Italy’s
most expensive cheeses. The area produces 3.3 million wheels of
Parmigiano Reggiano a year.

Many Italian newspapers on Monday ran pictures of hundreds
of big wheels of cheese that collapsed from seven-metre (23
feet)-high shelves piled like books on the floor of a bombed out
library.

“We’ve lost two years of work,” said Lorenza Caretti, whose
family runs the Sant’ Angelo cheese cooperative in the town of
San Giovanni in Persiceto.

“We may be able to sell some of it for use in melted cheese
products but that has only 20 percent of the value of the real
thing,” she said by telephone.

She said 22,000 wheels of hard cheese fell over in their
warehouse during the quake.

“We still can’t see the floor in many places,” she said. “We
will be lucky if we can somehow save half of it.”

Production of milk used for cheese making in the area was
also affected because many cows died in the collapse of stables
or were left traumatized by the quake and its aftershocks,
affecting the output and quality of milk, Coldiretti said.

Production of the Emilia-Romagna region’s famed Prosciutto
di Parma (seasoned Parma ham) was not believed to have been
affected by the quake, an official of the Prosciutto di Parma
consortium said.

While some pig farmers in the quake area saw their herds
killed or injured, most of the pigs come from other parts of
northern Italy and only the production process itself takes
place in the Parma area, which was not hit, she said.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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