At Macfrut, Consorzio Dal Cuore Veneto presented the Una Patata dal Cuore Veneto project, which boasts the QV (Verified Quality) mark and aims at being a testimonial for the promotion of the mark itself.
Michele Berti, Piergiorgio Agostini, Elena Baratella, Christian Baratella
The project is part of the larger program for the rural development of Veneto 2014-2020 and aims at promoting the QV mark granted to companies that comply with the specifications and guarantee superior product and process quality.
"The Patata dal Cuore Veneto kit boasts an innovative packaging and includes a brochure, a comic strip, some video-recipes and much more. It aims at illustrating the project to all kinds of consumers. Lo Scrigno di Qualità is a cardboard box that looks like a treasure chest. The packaging was designed to promote the kit and can be re-used to hold toys or as a container for potatoes," explains project coordinator Piergiorgio Agostini.
The packaging meets sustainability standards as it is made of fully-recyclable paper that maintains potatoes dry and away from sunlight.
The potatoes are grown around the Verona, Padua and Vicenza provinces by over 25 producers covering around 500 hectares. "The area has been growing potatoes since ancient times but, for the past 60 years, the leading companies have employed the best agronomic techniques in compliance with the QV (verified quality) specification, drafted by Regione Veneto to obtain high-quality productions."
Crops are located in areas boasting stratified alluvial soils rich in oxygen and a climate characterized by distinct seasons that favor product development. In addition, the clayey soil rich in iron leads to a golden color of the peel and a firm flesh suitable for various uses.
By aggregating production and involving storage and packaging centers, Consorzio Dal Cuore Veneto wanted to create a transversal project. "It is increasingly demanding to grow high-quality produce, also because of climate change. With this project, we want to give visibility to our local productions."
"Considering our experience and passion and the importance tomatoes have for our territory, we wanted to share all of these elements (which I would call values) placing them into a chest. Inside, you can find our best products, which have been selected also thanks to the results we have obtained from an experimentation project that lasted three years set up by Gruppo Operativo Patadorata as part of Measure16 of the Veneto regional development plan."
"In the chest, you will find not only our best produce, but also clear and simple information about it as well as on its provenance and the essential elements the QV mark aims at guaranteeing: protection of the environment, greater guarantees for consumers, health and wellbeing of plants and animals."
The chest also includes a few recipes as well as a comic strip and a puzzle to involve children.
For further information: www.lapatatadalcuoreveneto.it