There is nothing like the delicious taste of real Prosciutto di Parma, also known as Parma ham.
Tourists regularly flock to the region, known for other epicurean delicacies such as balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese, to sample the tastiest cuts in their place of origin, bringing in more revenue as they join guided tours of ham producers.
But all is not well in the land of the ham. The warming climate and the spread of viruses affecting pigs are causing major problems for Italian pork. The end result is that Parma ham as we know it is increasingly difficult to find on international plates.
Unlike many highly mechanized meat processing industries, the production of Parma ham is steeped in history and tradition.
In factories like Slega prosciuttoin the hamlet of Langhirano near the city of Parma, Stefano Borchini remembers his father teaching him methods of making Parma ham that date back to Roman times, when local salt was used to preserve the meat.
The hind leg of the pork leg grown in Italy is carefully butchered and then salted maestro salatoreor salt master, then left for about a week in a cold room to begin a process that must last at least 400 days and can be cured for up to three years to create the finest aged Parma ham.
‘Meat, salt, time and air’
Parma ham is salted twice, greased with a mixture of lard and salt, and then left to dry in air-conditioned rooms. When possible, the windows of the drying room are left open to allow fresh local air to enter.
“My father founded this company, and my first job at the factory was catching flies when I was six years old,” says Borchini. “You have a passion for this product, as a winemaker, it’s the same. When you produce food, it’s special. You put your heart into what you do.”
Each of the 40,000 to 50,000 legs of prosciutto that the company produces each year is dried in the same way, and the quality is tested with a needle made of horse bone. A needle is inserted into the prosciutto in several places and pulled out to check the smell and ensure food safety.
Borchini explains that the final stages of the curing process are fine-tuned by opening and closing windows to let in fresh air on cold nights, just as his father taught him to do. “You need meat, salt, time and air,” he says.
The process – and the product – draw hundreds of thousands of foodies and curious visitors from around the world to the area each year on food tours. Up and down the streets of Parma and small hamlets like Langhirano, small tour groups sample the delicacies, often combined with other delicacies of the area including Parmiggiano Reggiano (or Parmesan cheese), balsamic vinegar of Modena and local wine.
But lately, threats like human-caused climate change and diseases like African swine fever have challenged the prosciutto industry.
Borchini says that a few years ago, his company had to install air conditioning systems in the treatment rooms because the air is not cooling as well as it used to.
“We no longer have the crisp, cool nights in the summer that we used to have, but we’re happy to continue,” he says. “At night it changed to one or two degrees warmer than 15 years ago, which means we had to adapt.”
African swine fever, a highly contagious disease that can be fatal to pigs, has also affected production. Although not a danger to humans, the virus can be transmitted by humans, including by eating infected meat. This led to strict controls in Italy and beyond.
Borchini says that there has been a reduction of pork legs by about eight percent, and as a consequence a drastic increase in costs.
“We’re finding that there just aren’t enough fresh pork legs to meet our needs because of restrictions and controls,” he says. “We have difficulties with raw materials, and the price has increased because there is less pork than usual. The supply is less than the demand, and the price has increased.”
About 130 km north of Parma, near Brescia in the northern region of Lombardy, the air is very different.
The jobs that got the biggest pay increases in the 2024 financial year
At Alberto Cavagnini’s farm, the atmosphere is heavy with the strong smell of pigs. But they are nowhere to be found, mostly kept under isolation to protect themselves from the swine fever virus. Cavagnini produces pork for products including Parma ham and San Daniele ham — a similar cured meat that originates from Italy’s northeastern Friuli region. They are exported all over the world.
Cavagnini had to cull more than 2,000 of his animals after the virus, believed to have been introduced by a wild boar, was discovered in one of his pig barns earlier this year. The government, which has appointed a special commissioner to help manage the crisis, is demanding the destruction of all animals on farms where the virus has been detected.
“It is mandatory to destroy the animals because the virus is highly contagious,” he says. Workers take strict safety precautions, including showering before coming into contact with his pigs, to avoid accidentally spreading the virus, which is not airborne but is easily transmitted through shoes or clothing.
“There is no other option but to kill the infected animals because 95 percent of the animals will die in a painful way,” he says.
In total, more than 200,000 pigs have been killed in the Lombardy region since the virus was discovered in 2021, and nearly 90,000 in the past two months.
The situation is slowly being brought under control, but for some pork producers it is already too late.
Almost a dozen pig farms have had to close in Italy since the outbreak of the virus. It has also been devastating for producers who rely on international markets, as European Union regulations prohibit the export of pork from regions in the “red zone” of swine fever.
Davide Calderone, head of the Assisca association of Italian meat and cured meat producers, says Italy’s pork industry, which extends to sausages, mortadella and salami, has an annual turnover of about $9 billion ($13.9 billion). If it weren’t for the virus, exports should have amounted to two billion dollars ($3.1 billion).
Last year, several countries banned the export of Italian pork.
“China, Japan, Taiwan have completely closed the market because of African swine fever,” says Calderone. “Other countries, for example Canada, USA, Brazil, recognize the European system with bans on regionalization depending on where the virus is detected.”
Calderone says Italy has been able to maintain pork exports to many countries with some restrictions. “We are trying to convince them of the system, the safety and animal health of our products,” he says.
No persuasion is needed in Parma. A steady stream of food tourists stream in and out of delis and showrooms to sample the ancient delicacy, perhaps unaware of the challenges behind producing each great leg of prosciutto, but clearly grateful for the experience.