The Grana Padano produced and certified by the Consortium, the only one that can certify the genuineness of the product, is the fruit of 129 cheese factories and more than 40,000 employees.
For over sixty years, the Consorzio Tutela Grana Padano has brought together producers, maturers and traders of Grana Padano cheese in order to guarantee respect for the traditional recipe and its high quality, which can be recognized and found in every single cheese produced.
The Consortium for the Protection of Grana Padano cheese brings together consortium producers, geographically distributed in:
Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Trentino Alto Adige and Piedmont.
The Consortium also includes maturers located in:
Lombardy, Veneto and in the provinces of Piacenza, Trento and CuneoGrana Padano is also really good because it is produced according to a policy of sustainability that embraces the entire production chain.
The actions of the Consortium for the Protection of Grana Padano and those of the producers in primis and its consortium members are guided by 4 main areas of intervention: ensuring the welfare of cows producing milk for Grana Padano, ensuring respect for the environment, disseminating best practices to improve the welfare of people and prevent the onset of diseases, supporting humanitarian projects in developing countries.
The breeders put at the center of their activities the correct management of the herd, through the adoption of automatic evaluation systems of morpho-physiological parameters of the animals with the increasingly widespread use of special sensors that ensure constant monitoring of the animals and the intervention in case of specific need on the individual head with clear benefits for the whole herd.
The World Health Organization (WHO), in order to prevent hypertension in adults, recommends to consume no more than 5 g of salt per day, corresponding to 2 g of sodium. 25g of Grana Padano DOP contains only 7.5% of the maximum daily recommended quantity of sodium.33% of Grana Padano DOP is made of proteins, for the most part of high biological value, that is capable of satisfying the metabolic needs of the body.Grana Padano DOP does not contain lactose (milk sugar) because it is naturally removed during the production of cheese thanks to the action of lactic bacteria, which use almost all the lactose present. The remaining minimal quantity is eliminated during the aging process. After nine months, the minimum time established by the disciplinary of Grana Padano DOP, the cheese is naturally lactose free and the galactose is around 10 mg, a small quantity which makes it digestible even for those who are intolerant to milk sugars.At the beginning of the production of Grana Padano DOP, the whole milk used is partially skimmed by natural surfacing. During this phase, the whole milk loses a little less than 50% of its fat, a skimming process that technically defines a semi-fat cheese. Thanks to the skimming process, in 100 g of cheese remain on average 29 grams of lipids, of which 68% is represented by saturated fats.25 g of Grana Padano PDO satisfy 30% of the daily requirement of an adult (DRV) of calcium, phosphorus and zinc, the latter and selenium also play an important antioxidant role.
All the vitamins of cow’s milk, essential for the human organism, are concentrated in Grana Padano DOP in significant quantities, in particular B vitamins and vitamin A. Compared to the reference intake of DRVs, the consumption of 25 g of Grana Padano DOP meets the daily requirement of an adult (average males and females from 18 to 59 years old) of vitamin B12 for 19%, of vitamin B2 for 7% and of vitamin A for 10%.