15/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - Paolo Bedoni, the President of Coldiretti, has welcomed the decision by the European Council of Brussels to locate the headquarters of the European Food Safety Agency in Parma (see our special edition on the summit, dated 14 December 2003, p.3). In a press release, he notes that the choice of this city, the "Italian Food Valley", "which is known all over the world for products such as Parma ham and parmesan cheese", confirms the important "of the link with territory" and of "the agricultural component of food". The press release also notes that Italian agriculture "has overtaken France by conquering the European top spot of products eligible for appellation of origin with 132 products (20% of the Community total)". Furthermore, he stresses, Italian agriculture is the leader of organic production in Europe; one organic farm out of every three in Europe is Italian (37.7%), and over a quarter (27.7%) of organically cultivated land in Europe is to be found in Italy.