Dairy products, Puglia-Campania clash Euipo: burrata is not only from Andria
The Consorzio di tutela del formaggio pugliese had opposed the 'Burrata Campana' trademark, but the appeal was rejected by the EU body
by Vera Viola
Dairy products war between Apulia and Campania. The bone of contention, this time, is the use of the name burrata, which has become the subject of a clash between the Consortium for the Protection of Burrata di Andria Igp and Salerno-based 'Casearia Cioffi', which belongs to the La Marca brothers. The latter, already producers of buffalo mozzarella di bufala campana dop, had applied in 2023 for registration of the 'Burrata Campana' trademark for a series of products including a buffalo mozzarella, triggering a long legal dispute that ended in its victory.
On 27 April 2023, in fact, the Consortium for the Protection and Promotion of Burrata di Andria (PGI) filed an objection with Euipo (European Union Office for Intellectual Property) against the registration of the application submitted by La Marca, arguing that the protected geographical indication and the registered trademark should be protected. Simply put: for the Apulian Consortium, the word 'burrata' could not be used by non-Apulian producers.
The judgment, which has just been issued, states instead that '... the word "burrata" is a genus and that "burrata di Andria" is a species of that genus and that only the latter is protected by the GI of the same name. A further indication of this is that the same text of the GI specification refers to "burrata di Andria" or "Burrata di Andria" and not to "burrata" in general'. It also states that '... the PGI "Burrata di Andria" protects only burrata that meets the above specification, is made from cow's milk and comes from the territory of Apulia. The same PGI does not, however, protect any other type of burrata. In fact, one can find on the market truffle burrata and smoked burrata, produced in Apulia but also in other regions of Italia, as well as buffalo milk burrata, mainly produced in the Campania region'.
A clear victory for Campania, which, on the contrary, had been unsuccessful in a similar dispute a few years ago. It was 2023 and the reason for the dispute in that case was the term 'mozzarella'. The Consorzio della bufala Campana dop claimed that it was detrimental to its product to give dop recognition to Mozzarella di Gioia del Colle, which is therefore produced in Puglia and with cow's milk. In that case, it was the Lazio Regional Administrative Court that ruled that 'mozzarella' was a generic name and that the origin served to clarify a specificity: this was to be protected.
In short, three years later it turns out that he who wounds by mozzarella, perishes by burrata!
