Andrea Petrini, zoologist of the CCBI:
“We follow the cattle from selection to the butcher’s shop. That’s unique”
For selection and quality control a very detailed accounting is required. To perform this crucial task, the government created an organisation, ANABIC - abbreviation for Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Bovini Italiani da Carne.
ANABIC spreads the work over two subsidiaries. The Genetic Centre takes the selections for its account. The CCBI, Consorzio Produttori Carne Bovina Pregiata delle razze Italian, assigns the quality labels.
A unique meat supplier
The Genetic Centre keeps the account books up todate. The Centre is also involved in research programmes concerning two other cattle breeds of the region the Marchigiana and the Romagnola. Moreover the centre focuses upon the actual selection. “By using the data collected in advance, specialists are searching for calves with specific features every month. Each month, five calves per breed are examined in the centre; they are tested for further selection,” Fiorella Sbarra, researcher of the centre, explains.
 
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Fiorella Sbara: "Crossbreeding the best bulls with the best cows guarantees an offspring with the best features"
The centre has its own stables. The calves are accommodated in these stables because they have to be tested in a situation comparable to their natural environment. “The calves arrive here when they are about five months. We monitor their daily increase of weight and skin thickness. We comprehensively carry out measurements and examine the herdbook. In that way, we gain a pretty clear insight in the a calf’s potential,” Sbarra says.
“After six months, when the tests are done, the cattle return to the farmer. A sperm sample of the selected bulls is taken, so other farmers can buy the sperm to inseminate their cows. The cows just return to the owner. They can be sold or the owner can breed with them. The Chianina is a unique meat supplier. Crossbreeding the best bulls with the best cows guarantees an offspring with the best features,” Sbarra says.
False market
As the meat of the selected cows is of the highest quality, a number of labels were set up to offer consumer guarantees. That is the main responsibility of the CCBI, Consorzio Produttori Carne Bovina Pregiata delle razze Italiane.
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This Consortium assigns three different labels: DOP, IGP and 5R. “But we do more than that,” Andrea Petrini, zoologist of the CCBI, adds. ‘We also want to boost the meat production and to guarantee the highest quality. When the mad cow disease broke out, the consumption of Chianina meat increased because of its quality. The demand was bigger than the supply.”
Another priority for the CCBI is fighting the false market. “We created an internet site on which the consumer can see which cow is for sale at which butcher’s shop and which restaurants buys their meat at that particular butcher’s shop. We follow the cows from selection to the butcher’s shop. That is unique in Italy,” Petrini emphasizes.
Andrea Petrini: "We do more than just achieve labels"
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www.ccbi.it
www.anabic.it
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