Agriculture minister calls for immediate investigation over carbonara sauce containing the wrong type of cured meat
Italy’s agriculture minister, Francesco Lollobrigida, has called for an immediate investigation after coming across what he claimed were jars of “Italian sounding” pasta sauce on the shelves of the European parliament’s supermarket.
Lollobrigida, of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, was particularly vexed by a carbonara sauce made with “Italiaanse pancetta” – the classic Roman pasta dish is made with a different cured meat, guanciale – and a tomato sauce containing “oignons de Calabria”, or onions from Calabria.
“Ignoring the pancetta in carbonara … all these products represent the worst of ‘Italian sounding’,” he wrote on Facebook about his discovery. “It is unacceptable to see them on the shelves of the European parliament supermarket. I have asked for an immediate investigation.”
Italy has long tried to fight against the huge global market in “Italian sounding” products, that is food items which give the impression they are made in Italy when they are not.
