Perhaps someone will have noticed a change in the narrative, in the spot advertising for De Cecco pasta. Until a few months ago, the actress Claudia Gerini praised the careful selection of grains from Italy, Arizona and California. She now she instead she refers to 'heart of the best grains in the world'.
'Western spaghetti Abruzzo style'is the film directed and starring Filippo Antonio De Cecco, regent in chief of the industrial group of the same name. In preview to follow, the plot that accompanies the hammering spot televisions.
Origin of wheat in De Cecco pasta, the Antitrust investigation
The Antitrust (Authority for Competition and the Market, AGCM), it is recalled, had carried out an investigation against De Cecco, as well as Divella, Cav. Giuseppe Cocco, Margherita Distribuzione SpA (formerly Auchan SpA, 'Passioni' brand) and Lidl Italia. To evaluate the correctness of the indications offered regarding the origin of the wheat on the labels of the pasta promoted as Made in Italy:.
The AGCM, in the meeting of 20.12.19, accepted the commitment of Filippo Antonio De Cecco, as president of F.lli De Cecco SpA, to modify the front of the labels of his own brand pasta, by:
- addition of information i 'best Italian, Californian and Arizona grains’,
- elimination of the image of the Italian flag and of the wording 'De Cecco method'. (see Annexes 1 and 2).
Wheat origin, the false promises of Filippo Antonio De Cecco to the Antitrust
The officials the Antitrust Authority trusted the statements made by the president of an industrial group with over 130 years of honored history. They therefore ordered the closure of the investigation against him, without entrusting the Guardia di Finanza even a simple investigation into the grain supplies to De Cecco (1,2). But the trust was misplaced.
Philip Antonio DeCecco has deliberately violated the commitments undertaken with the Guarantor Authority. As emerges from the invoice 31.1.20 of the Cavac supplier, already on 2.10.19 the Abruzzo giant had signed a contract for the supply of 4.575 tons of French wheat, at a price of € 309 / t, for a total value of 1,4 million. of Euro. Order confirmed on 19.11.19 and reconfirmed on 30.1.20 (Attachments 3,4). False ideology in a public act?
Counterfeiting of grain origin and accounting
The purchasing manager of De Cecco, Mario Aruffo, on 10.2.20, communicates the order of Filippo Antonio De Cecco to falsify the origin of the wheat. 'The President announced that the French wheat arriving in Ortona on 13.2.2020 must be considered as Apulian wheat'. Recipients Nicola Zanapa (head miller), Vincenzo Villani (quality control director), Eugenio Galliani (management control coordinator). For information Stefano D'Alessio (purchasing office employee), Angelo Di Falco (management control officer) and presidential secretariat (Att. 5). The false purchase order in favor of Cavac for 4.575 tons of Apulian wheat is created on the system on 13.2.20 (Annex 6).
The procedure of De Cecco's passive cycle provides for the verification of the supplier's invoice, purchase order and goods receipt. So how is it possible to pay a bill of 1,4 million for 'French grain'(durum wheat) against an order that reports'Apulian wheat'? The accounting entry is false, in violation of the procedures and the scheme of governance required pursuant to Legislative Decree 231/01. The top management of the administrative department - Gildo Di Cecco (Administrative Director) and his deputy Nicola Secondo, as well as Amleto Cianci, head of the supplier office - are also listed as some of the closest people to Filippo Antonio De Cecco.
False origin, paper sings. Certified supply chain or commercial fraud?
The French origin of the wheat is confirmed in the transport documents (transport documents) issued in the period 13-17.2.2020.
Departure from the port of Ortona, destined for Fara San Martino, F.lli De Cecco di Filippo SpA. Goods transported, 'Durum wheat - French Durum Wheat Crop 2019'(Annex 7). And it is here that the French wheat is transformed into Apulian, with the attribution of the entry code 0710001 (which in the Fara San Martino plant identifies the wheat of Puglia), before being loaded into silos B and C
(Annex 8).
DNV GL is one of the most important certification groups globally. It also provides its services to De Cecco, which is responsible for communicating the incoming loads of foreign wheat. So that the diligent inspectors of the Scandinavian group - with solid experience in the maritime sector - can go to the port of unloading to verify the correctness of the transport operations, in view of the quality certification of the pasta Made in Abruzzo. But it seems unlikely that the men of the regent Filippo Antonio De Cecco have warned DNV of the French cargo in question. Investigators will be able to easily verify the subject of the passive invoices received in De Cecco by DNV in the first half of 2020.
Selection of grains in the fields?
Advertising on the site websites by De Cecco magnificent selection of grain in the fields, as a distinctive element of the value of its pasta. 'Our experts select the raw materials by touching the quality of Italian, Californian and Arizona durum wheat. They do this when the harvest is still in the fields'. False.
The wheat French subject of fraud was a simple one commodity, 'crops 2019', without distinctive features, from the silos of the Cavac supplier to those of Fara San Martino. But there is also more. The six invoices of a couple of suppliers, in Annex 9, show how De Cecco also purchases durum wheat semolina, without even knowing the origin of the wheat that generated that semolina.
Coarse-grained semolina, certified quality?
Il marketing of De Cecco pasta start on the 'coarse-grained semolina,quality instead of quantity (…) with a low grinding yield', 65 kg of semolina from 100 kg of wheat,'while being able to get up to 80'. 'To always have fresh semolina, we grind the wheat in our own mill'. False (see Annex 9).
La certificazione of product - issued by DNV back in 2004 and valid until 11.6.22 - 'it serves to certify, by means of analyzes and checks by an independent third party, that the product complies with the declared characteristics of excellence'. But how can DNV GL guarantee the setting of unknown mills on the semolina of unknown origin purchased from third parties? It is easy to assume that the regent's circle failed to inform the certifier about their own variable supplies.
Arizona and North Dakota?
Lo 'spaghetti western abruzzese', according to confidential sources, it could be enriched with new episodes. In addition to French wheat - already the subject of an investigation for commercial fraud, at the Chieti Public Prosecutor's Office - and the semolina of unknown origin also worthy of evaluation, purchases could perhaps emerge for over 29 thousand tons of wheat from North Dakota, in 2019 , by De Cecco.
Where ever if this news was confirmed in the investigations, this operation - for a value of approximately € 8,6 million - would have resulted in savings of just over 15% (approximately € 1,2 million) in comparison with the costs of Arizona wheat. Fargo and Phoenix, the most important cities of N. Dakota and Arizona, are approximately 2.700 km away (just over that between Rome and Stockholm). North Dakota has not yet been seen in labels and advertising, nor in the commitments of Filippo Antonio De Cecco to the Antitrust.
The other De Cecco
De Cecco is a glorious industry, made famous throughout the world by the excellent quality of its pasta historically made, among other things, with spring water. The spaghetti western a preview of which was offered derives exclusively from the authoritarian management of the reigning regent Filippo Antonio De Cecco. Which, among other things, has expelled all executives unwilling to support him in a management best described by the historic CEOs.
The other De Cecco it is the one represented by the homonyms Saturnino and Giuseppe Aristide. Who resigned on 22.1.20, with the following eloquent motivation.
'Changes recently intervened in the organization company and the absence of a precise and constant reporting of the various corporate functions to the Board of Directors, in its collective composition, and to the Managing Directors for the areas of delegation, together with the absence of an adequate information flow by the Chairman of the Board of Directors , does not allow us to continue further in the timely and serene fulfillment of the mandate received from the shareholders' meeting.
Some happenings in recent months, including the numerous activities carried out by Chairman of the BoD, in the absence of sharing and information from the BoD also with regard to business organization, they contributed the alteration, currently irreversible, of the balance of a management which until recently has been effective and incisive on all of ours organization'.
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. Wheat origin on the pasta label. Three shipwrecks for fear of the Antitrust. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 20.1.20/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/origine-grano-in-etichetta-della-pasta-tre-naufragi-per-timore-dell-antitrust
(2) Dario Dongo. Antitrust, Made in Italy pasta and origin of wheat, notes on scourges. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 11.2.20/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/antitrust-pasta-made-in-italy-e-origine-del-grano-note-sui-flagelli
(3) Dario Dongo. De Cecco, alleged fraud on the origin of the wheat. Prosecutor's investigation. 15.11.20 https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/de-cecco-frode-presunta-sull-origine-del-grano-indagine-della-procura
Attachments
(1) ATTACHMENT 1 Filippo Antonio De Cecco, declaration of commitments towards Antitrust (AGCM)
(2) ATTACHMENT 2 AGCM, minutes of the meeting 20.12.19
(3) ATTACHMENT 3 Cavac Positive Agriculture, Societè Cooperative Agricole à capital variable, invoice to De Cecco 31.1.20 n. 2001/5972
(4) ATTACHMENT 4 De Cecco, order confirmation for the purchase of 4.575 tonnes of French wheat from Cevac 30.1.20
(5) ATTACHMENT 5 Email 10.2.2020 from purchasing manager Mario Aruffo to Filippo Antonio De Cecco secretariat et al.
(6) ATTACHMENT 6 De Cecco, purchase order 4.575 tons of wheat pugliese to Cevac 13.2.20
(7) ATTACHMENT 7 Buonefra Srl, Via Porto snc, Ortona. Two examples of French grain transport documents from Ortona to the De Cecco plant in Fara San Martino, 13-17.2.20
(8) ATTACHMENT 8 Attribution of the entry code 'Puglia wheat' to lots of French wheat entering the De Cecco plant in Fara San Martino, 13-17.2.20
(9) ATTACHMENT 9 ATTACHMENT 9.1 ATTACHMENT 9.2. De Cecco invoices from suppliers Candeal Commercio SRL (26.11.2018 n.3333 / M, 29.11.2018 n.3374 / M, 10.1.2019 n.68 / M, 14.1.2019 n.114 / M) and Loiudice Srl ( invoices 31.12.2018 no. 3963/00, 31.1.2019 no. 31300)
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
