Neapolitan pizza gets a trademark of protection

The Japan News.Net
Thursday 10th December, 2009 (IANS)

Brussels, Dec 11 (IANS/AKI) The European Union (EU) appears to have developed a yen for Italian pizza and has granted Neapolitan pizza a special label to protect it from any rivals.

The EU Wednesday gave pizza produced in the southern city of Naples a special label that protects it in the 27 EU countries from 'fake' or imitation 'Neapolitan pizzas'.

Neapolitan pizza is considered the benchmark for pizza everywhere in the world.

The EU's quality food board granted the pizza the coveted trademark called the Traditional Specialty Guaranteed or TSG at a meeting at the EU's headquarters in Brussels.

Once official, only pizza made according to the Neapolitan tradition can be called 'Neapolitan Pizza'.

The crust or outer border of the pizza must be a maximum of 35 centimetres in diameter and 1 to 2 centimetres in height.

The base of the pizza must be made with skinless tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella cheese from Campania, garlic, olive oil and basil.

The two pizzas to be granted the TSG label will be the Margherita and the Marinara, both thought to be the classic Italian pizzas.

If any establishment sells a 'fake' Neapolitan pizza it could be fined, say Italian media reports. And no frozen Neapolitan pizzas will be sold in supermarkets.

The pizza is the second Italian product to receive the coveted label after mozzarella cheese.

To receive the TSG label, the product or foodstuff must be manufactured using traditional ingredients or be characteristic for its traditional composition, production process, or processing, reflecting a traditional type of manufacturing or processing.

The product, however, does not have to be manufactured in a specific geographic area.

The pizza, as it is currently known, was developed at the end of the 18th century in Naples and is considered a staple of Italian cuisine.

Pizza was created with the availability of Arab bread, tomatoes grown in the Americas and Italian olive oil.

During the 1950s, there were only 250 pizzerias in Naples and tens of others in the rest of the country, most in big cities such as Milan and Padova.

In the 1980s, pizzas became popular and the number of pizzerias has steadily grown and currently number 35,000. In Italy, more than 35 million pizzas are consumed weekly and hundreds of millions in the rest of the world.

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