Italy’s fraud officials recently seized hundreds of tubes of Prosecco-flavoured Pringles because they are alleged to have use the term reserved for the famous sparkling wine.
A number of limited edition Prosecco and pink peppercorn flavoured Pringles, were seized from an Italian supermarket chain in Veneto, the home of Prosecco.
Until 2009, Prosecco was the name used for the grape variety which forms the base of the Italian fizz, but when the producers of Prosecco realised that a grape variety couldn’t be geographically delimited and protected, they registered the word Prosecco as a region, or DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata).
With exports rising by a record 21% in 2019 in foreign markets, Prosecco has become the most popular Italian wine abroad.
The country’s lawmakers and winemakers are fiercely protective over the use of the term ‘Prosseco’. Only producers making Prosecco in the region itself are allowed to use the term.
The Prosecco Pringles were seized, as included among the ingredients, was an unspecified ‘Prosecco powder’.
Luca Zaia, the president of Veneto, took to Facebook to praised the ICQRF, (the Italian authority who undertook the seizure), for seizing the snacks and preventing Pringles from “damaging honest producers who promote quality and territory.”
If you are using or marketing a product from a DOC, it is critical that correct permissions have been sought, or as the above example shows, the stock can be lost.
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