Reconsidering 'traditional' food: The case of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Amongst the hundreds of cases of regional specific products being produced all over Europe, the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese system can be considered on e of the most eloquent, mature and successful examples avant Ea lettre of r ural development. About 8,000 dairy farmers, cheese dairies and ripening fi rms comply with the strict production regulations that guarantee the specif icity of this product. Employment in the Parmigiano Reggiano production sys tem is twice as high as in the industrial dairy system and the pressure of the system on the environment is significantly lower. As Parmigiano Reggian o cheese has to compete on the same market as more industrial Grana cheeses , the system is not immune to the cost-price squeeze affecting European agr iculture. The accelerated introduction of cost reducing technologies may co mpromise the typicality of the product, endanger its competitive position o n the market and weaken its future collective performance. A convergence of views and a strong cohesion among actors is necessary to reach new agreeme nts about the direction being taken by technological development in order t o safeguard the success Parmigiano Reggiano cheese has been able to generat e in the past.