The Piadina Romagnola PGI is also a registered trademark in Japan
Recognition against counterfeit attempts comes less than a year before Expo 2025: an opportunity to grow in the Japanese market
2' min read
2' min read
After the USA, Switzerland and San Marino, the cockerel symbol of the Piadina Romagnola Igp also becomes a registered trademark in Japan, less than a year before Expo 2025. This means that within the borders of the Land of the Rising Sun, only members of the Consortium will be able to use the wording "Piadina Romagnola" and that member companies interested in exporting the PGI product to the Japanese market will have to be authorised to use the (collective) cockerel trademark. Just as already happens in the United States, Switzerland and San Marino.
Recognition of the trademark by Jpo (the Japanese Patent Office) represents a form of protection for the original product, made in the Romagna territory according to specifications. And the Promotion Consortium - twelve associates that this year celebrate ten years of PGI recognition - celebrates it as a victory.
"A great result for Romagna, because it puts a further dowel in the defence of the main product of our land in an important market like Japan, and because it can act as a flywheel in view of Expo 2025, which will be held in Osaka," explains the president Alfio Biagini.
In addition to promoting the enhancement of the product, the Consortium (turnover 58 million euro) has always engaged in protection actions against attempted counterfeiting in various parts of the world, stopping two imitation attempts. It happened in Canada in 2019, when the Canadian Industrial Property Office upheld the opposition of its members and cancelled the application to register the trademark 'La Piadina'; and in the United Kingdom (in 2020), against a Spanish food bigwig who had attempted to file two applications to register the trademark 'Piadine di Modena'.
But the symbolic product of the Italian gastronomic tradition is armoured by a strict production specification, which does not allow for exceptions. The traditional recipe calls for only four ingredients: wheat flour, water, salt, and fat, which can vary from lard to olive oil, according to local tradition. The use of preservatives or additives is forbidden.
Under the protection and control of the PGI, the production process must respect artisan and traditional methods, guaranteeing the unmistakable thickness of the piadina, which varies from 3 mm to 8 mm. The protected geographical indication also enhances the link with the territory: it is only produced in the provinces of Rimini, Forlì-Cesena, Ravenna and part of Bologna.
With Japan, the bond is strong. "Last year, as a Consortium, we took part in the 'Week of Italian Cuisine in the World' as part of the Emilia-Romagna Region's mission to Tokyo and Osaka," says Biagini . "Last February, on the other hand, we received a delegation from the prefecture of Ibaraki that had gone to visit the factory of one of our members.
Now the aim is to conquer the market.
