ITALY: Italy is attempting to preserve the authenticity of its famous Christmas dessert bread, panettone, by "copyrighting" the recipe.
Manufacturers in other countries who change the ingredients or do not follow traditional methods of baking will have to call their products by generic names such as "sweet festive bread" or "sweet Christmas cake".
The authorities hope that regulating the use of the word panettone will safeguard the identity of a delicacy created in the Renaissance era.
Panettone and its lighter cousin pandoro, which is made with less butter and has a cake-like texture, are considered a vital part of Christmas in Italy and supermarkets and shops already have mountains of them on sale.
Last year, Italians bought 109 million of the cupola-shaped dessert breads, which are sliced vertically and eaten with sweet wine.
The origins of panettone are steeped in legend but the most popular story is that it was invented in the 15th century by a young Milanese nobleman who fell in love with a baker's daughter called Toni.
To meet her, he disguised himself as a baker and invented the bread using flour and yeast, butter, eggs, dried raisins and candied fruit. Pan del Ton, "Toni's bread", became so popular that the couple were given permission to marry by the Duke of Milan. Leonardo da Vinci is said to have been among the wedding guests.
As well as being a festive feature of Italian households, millions of panettone are exported but many foreign manufacturers are making their own versions.
The move is part of a drive towards "copyrighting" Italian food. An attempt has already been made to define the Neapolitan pizza, stipulating what types of flour, yeast, salt, tomatoes and mozzarella must be used.