12.05.2020 – 15.50 – The recommendations of the technical-scientific committee that studies how to reopen the commercial activities, on behalf of Premier Giuseppe Conte, now officially announced for May 18 are causing big alarm in #FareRete, the project that gathers the Italian catering industry (including Italian ice cream makers, pastry chefs, pizza makers, chocolatiers, the association of chefs and restaurants in Emilia Romagna to name a few).
The planned protective measures, like the installation of Plexiglas barriers, several meters between tables, complex sanitization measures and cooks with surgical masks in the kitchens are unrealistic and would prevent eighty percent of Italian restaurants from reopening, with a very serious domino effect for the entire food chain of the
country, on which many Italian regions, including Friuli Venezia Giulia, base a large
part of their domestic product.
Equally illogical for Italian catering operators are the restrictive measures envisaged
for ventilation and air conditioning systems, defined as “too drastic”.
“If this news published by the press were confirmed by the issued guidelines, writes Gianluca De Cristofaro on behalf of the project, which includes more than 100,000 members, “they would result in the permanent closure of more than 80% of the premises in our country.
We consider it crazy and meaningless even to hypothesize measures of such magnitude that confirm the lack of knowledge of the sector and the logic issues that govern it.
There is no more time, we urgently need measures that are relevant to the existing reality. We ask the Government to consult with us before issuing the new provisions, involving representatives of the catering industry at the decision-making table.
A few hours from the issuing of the Decree Law, we also reiterate the need for nonrepayable financing measures, specifically intended for the catering industry and linked to the purchase of Italian food products. Only with these resources will the horeca be able to regain its role, that of economic lever, which is essential for the
agri-food chain, necessary for the restart of the entire country”.
The call is supported by Filiera Italia, whose managing director Luigi Scordamaglia points out that “the continuing closure of the catering channel is causing a domino effect on the entire Italian food supply chain with production collapses of up to 40% of the wine sector, 45% of typical cheeses and 35% of the most valuable cured meats, putting significant parts of the 3.6 million workers in the supply chain at serious risk of unemployment”.
The demand is to restart catering immediately with strict but applicable rules.
Michael Guggenbichler translation
