Time.news – Sushi is an ancient art. Not simply a “food”, but the symbol of a gastronomic culture, that of an entire country: Japan. Yet there is a fact that jeopardizes its authenticity: 55% of the sushi on the market today is “fake”i.e. false, not compliant with quality standards.
Because the original Sushi, according to its enthusiasts, must follow very strict criteria since its production process “involves a reconciliation and re-evaluation of the original need for which Sushi was born”, which is also its secret: about two thousand years ago Sushi was born in Japan as a system for keeping fresh fish and exactly for this reason the fish was collected in fermented rice.
© Agf
Sushi
How to guarantee and reconcile, then, originality, quality and tradition of Sushi in the relationship between Italy and Japan? For this purpose a certification body was born, with headquarters in Venice, which has the specific task of define the real Japanese origin of Sushi. It is a sort of “quality license” which reduces the distance between the Rising Sun and the boot and which is valid for the whole world.
“The Uni Cei En Iso/Iec 17024:2012 standard – explains Giuseppe Izzo, CEO of Uese Italia Spa, the Veneto-based company that has been tasked with the certification, a sort of “quality seal” – obliges to certify whether a given person, assessed by an independent third party according to pre-established rules, possesses the necessary and sufficient requirements for operate with competence and professionalism in a given sector of activity”, which “allows for the creation of a single system which facilitates recognition between professionals of different nationalities”.
© Agf Sushi
On Sushi, therefore, it is up to Uese Italia Spa define the rules and requirements of professionals of the sector and therefore certify the product validation processes. An action that should be ready by the year 2023 and which will make it possible to recognize the real Sushi, i.e. “the Sushi doc”, anti-imposture and anti-counterfeiting, compared to the fake one.
After meat, the latest experience is in fact the arrival on the market of “synthetic fish”, created in the laboratory with the use of stem cells in test tubes. An alteration in production that has led 7 out of 10 Italians, 68%, to not trust what they buy and should consume.
© Agf Sushi
Coldiretti had already revealed it in August in the context of a meeting promoted during the Rimini Meeting of Communion and Liberation on “The global food crisis: the person at the center”, according to which the latest drift at the table comes from Germany with the first sticks of fish substance grown in vitro that have never even seen the sea, “while in the USA – underlined the agricultural organization – with a clever marketing strategy they are throwing themselves on Sushi in test tubes”.
A series to promote the history of “real Sushi”
In Italy, the fish tradition dictates that whole fish arrive on the counter at the fish market, only to be cleaned or filleted at the moment, while abroad it is rare to see a whole squid on display with all its tentacles in the right place.
Generally the fish is already ready to be edible and maybe even already combined with riceas required by the latest trend on the wave of “Sushi-mania”.
© Agf Sushi
From here we also understand that the choice of raw materials and the processing of Sushi itself, for example, must almost follow a “ritual” that respects the ancient traditions.
And it is for this reason that the procedures, according to the managers of the Veneto certification company, represent “the backbone of the ongoing certification process”, procedures which will then be collected in an all-Italian documentary. In this regard, explains Giovanni Franchini, CEO of Emy Productions, a broadcaster based in Rome: “In the series distributed in 36 episodes lasting 50 minutes we have each decided to aim for a content that can bring to light the history of Sushi and beyond. In fact, we also aim to rediscover the Japanese tradition and its contamination with ours”.
In this way and with a popular approach, Sushi therefore becomes within everyone’s reach and even more familiar than today. “Understanding how it is born and how it is produced is not a secondary element”, says Izzo.
In the meantime, starting from the first months of last year, the growth in fish consumption globally together with the depreciation of the yen and the critical issues caused by the war in Ukraine have forced the large Japanese sushi chains to raise consumer prices to absorb the increase in procurement costs. So much so that the ‘Kaiten-sushi’ restaurants – where generally the already prepared dishes pass on a conveyor belt – are now struggling to guarantee the 100 yen (0.70 euro) portion which has been the standard of quality for decades affordable and convenient.
© Agf A Sushi restaurant in Japan
For example, one of the main chains in Japan, Sushiro, also announced in May that it was forced to abolish the 100 yen offer, starting from the end of September, for the first time since 1984, by applying a surcharge of 20 yen on the saucer which generally contains two portions of fish with rice assembled by the ‘Itamae’, the chef who specializes in the various compositions.
The group imports much of the fish it offers in its restaurants, e the sudden devaluation of the yen, at its lowest in 20 years against the dollar, has been affecting the group’s margins for months now. The same goes for the Genrokuzushi chain, the first to introduce the concept of Kaiten-sushi in Japan, and which has already applied a surcharge since last May 10th.
“Giving the consumer the keys to recognizing authentic Sushi”
According to the CEO of Uese Italia Spa, Giuseppe Izzo, “the consumer certainly cannot play the detective but, with the combined certification work we are carrying out, he will still have the tools to recognize the genuine one”.
And then, certifying processes and defining the rules and requirements of professionals in the sector “also means putting those who don’t follow those rules offside,” the CEO points out. Thus “those who try to sell Sushi that is not Sushi at that point will be penalized while those who follow the right procedures will be rewarded by the market.
This because consumers will know where to find well-made products by certified professionals”. In short, Izzo is convinced that “our work will have multiple benefits, for the consumer, of course, but not only for him” because “on the basis of the license we will issue, you will come into contact with starred chefs from all over the world and a relevant virtuous chain will start”.
Therefore, concludes the CEO, “the checks will be multiplied in all countries and will in fact produce employment. But above all we will have great satisfaction as Italians: having given the seal of quality to an international product. When it will be said that that Sushi is made as a work of art, the goodness of what you are eating will also be the result of our work. And of this, allow me, we are proud of it”.