The Press release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Tourism announces that the chocolate of Modica PGI is the first chocolate registered at EU level. The news is contained in the Official Journal of the European Union - Series L 257 dd. October 15, 2018.

The name “Cioccolato di Modica” exclusively refers to the product obtained from the processing of bitter cocoa paste with sugar and technical specifications are to be respected, including the size for placing this product on the market. Furthermore, as reported in the Press release, “The packaging operations must be carried out not later than twelve hours from cooling, inside the production plant or its premises since this avoids possible bacterial contamination and the absorption of smell that might alter the organoleptic profile; all this ensures that the chocolate does not absorb moisture from outside because it might lead to the formation of mold during storage, loss of the peculiar brown color of the external surface of the product”.

Thanks to this product, 296 Italian PDOs and PGIs are now included in the Register.

Source: Italian Minister