The Consortium for the Protection of Grana Padano DOP has decided to set up the "Register of suppliers of fodder and feed for dairy cows intended for transformation into Grana Padano DOP ", briefly called the "Register of Grana Padano Forage and Feed" and created in collaboration with ASSALZOO , the National Association of Zootechnical Food Producers" .
The objective of the entire production chain, starting with the approximately 4 thousand breeders who give milk to dairy, is "to guarantee the entire system starting from the feeding of the beef producers of milk intended for Grana Padano - underlines Zaghini - we ensure compliance with the rigorous current regulations that impose the origin from the territory of at least 75% of the dry substance of the fodder, thus guaranteeing the maintenance of the In the most difficult moments such as that of water deficiency ".
Despite the surveillance checks managed by the Control Body, the CSQA , errors attributable to the food ration are periodically recorded, which constitute a Non-Conformity in the matter of nutrition and can lead to the exclusion of the milk producer for 180 days and that of the cheese produced from the PDO Grana Padano by means of screening.
To avoid these problems, the Register of suppliers of forage and feed for dairy cows intended for transformation into Grana Padano DOP aims at precise objectives, starting from the elimination of Non-Conformities inherent to the feeding of farms registered with the DOP, including errors in the formulation of feed, from the traceability of the origin of forage and feed and from the recovery of the information necessary to guarantee what is required by the Regulations and by the Regulations with reference to the dry matter of the feed ration of the cows.
The processing of the acquired data will disseminate useful information among milk producers to reduce food waste and increase environmental sustainability and animal welfare. In addition, assistance will be provided to milk producers for the evaluation and use of fodder, raw materials and feed additives compliant with article 4 of the Production Regulations for Grana Padano DOP cheese.
The register will be closed, thus authorizing only registered subjects to supply forage and feed to produce Grana Padano DOP and allowing milk producers in the supply chain to obtain supplies exclusively from them. But at the same time it will remain open to welcoming and receiving registrations from all interested companies and with the requisites to be part of it. For this reason, a section will be created on the Consortium website ( www.granapadano.it ) where it will be possible for suppliers to register in the Register with low annual costs, intended for controls, data management and activities.
For feed manufacturers, the validation of the feed formulation will be performed by a specific management system which will reject those that do not comply with the diet of the PDO cows.
The register was born from a comparison and a willingness to collaborate between the Consortium and Assalzoo, the main association of producers of livestock feed .
“We are convinced that the register will help improve the production of Grana Padano DOP and ensure compliance with the rules – comments Stefano Berni. General Manager of the Consortium for the Protection of Grana Padano – and will extend the protection of the DOP to the part of the supply chain of the cows that produce milk destined for transformation into Grana Padano DOP”.
The system allows companies to register in the register at any time , without setting limits other than the legal requirements already in force, and therefore does not limit free competition between companies in any way, nor affect the choice.
“In collaboration with Assalzoo we are about to create a path that will highlight even more the protection, well-being and sustainability of the PDO Grana Padano supply chain in favor of consumers - concludes Berni - more protected and guaranteed by technological innovations and by the improvement of product quality".