Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and Europe, is a protection for "geographic indications," such as Prosciutto di Parma.

This clears the path for Italian producers to finally sell the ham using its own name.

Stefano Fanti was born and raised in Parma. Like most of his classmates, he was sent off to school every morning with a prosciutto panino in his backpack. He still eats these sandwiches several times a week – "My wife, my son, we eat prosciutto, bread, that's it."

As general manager of the Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma, Mr. Fanti represents about 145 prosciutto producers, who produce almost nine million hams each year. About 70,000 of those hams wind up in Canada.

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Mr. Fanti's job is to make surethat any product that bears the name Prosciutto di Parma follows the rules set out by the consortium. Those rules were first created in 1963, and include guidelines on what pigs must be used (Duroc, Large White or Landrace breeds), what the pigs must be fed (whey left over from parmigiano-reggiano production), where it must be produced (no less than five kilometres south of the Via Emilia, and climbing no higher than 900 metres in the Apennine Mountains), and how long it must be aged (at least 12 months).

Mr. Fanti arrived at the consortium straight out of university in the late 1980s, and one of his first tasks was to launch exports to North America. By 1995, they were ready to introduce the product to Canada for the