ROME - The Italian National Truffle Association has developed an app, Truffle Market, using blockchain technology that allows user to guarantee that the truffles they are buying are 100% Made In Italy.

  According to the Association, a large part of the truffles you can buy in Italy are not Italian, from places such as Afghanistan or Iran. In line with the government’s latest push to promote products with the Made In Italy label, for the sake of the Italian economy post-Covid, the National Truffle Association are aiming to defend Italian excellence on the truffle market. 

  The Italian provenance of the truffles is guaranteed by blockchain technology - a decentralised digital ledger of the provenance of a certain product, which is completely transparent and unable to be modified by anyone.

  Gian Marco Centinaio, Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, said at the app’s release, “today we have an extra tool to identify 100% Made in Italy products and a means to counter counterfeiting. Using blockchain technology we value our excellence, and at the same time the professionalism of truffle farmers.”

  The app provides a certificate to prove the authentic Italian provenance of a truffle product, using reliable traceability to avoid the decay of such a delicate product by inauthentic and fraudulent providers, according to the President of the National Truffle Association, Riccardo Germani.

  The app offers a delivery service within 48 hours of Italian truffles in special organic containers, and restaurants which buy their truffles through the app, which is already in use, will receive a plaque of recognition.

  Today in Italy there are around 200,000 truffle hunters, and around 1,000 enrolled in the National Association. “The truffle,” says Germani, “is always harvested prematurely, to avoid decay and this is why we need traceability. It is an opportunity for Made in Italy; if you want to buy the Italian truffle use this app, it strengthens our products, which are excellent.”

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