According to Restaurants and Institutions magazine, “the European Union (EU) appears to have developed a yen for Italian pizza and has granted Neapolitan pizza a special label to protect it from any rivals. ”

“The EU Wednesday gave pizza produced in the southern city of Naples a special label that protects it in the 27 EU countries from ‘fake’ or imitation ‘Neapolitan pizzas’. Neapolitan pizza is considered the benchmark for pizza everywhere in the world. The EU’s quality food board granted the pizza the coveted trademark called the Traditional Specialty Guaranteed or TSG at a meeting at the EU’s headquarters in Brussels. Once official, only pizza made according to the Neapolitan tradition can be called ‘Neapolitan Pizza’. The crust or outer border of the pizza must be a maximum of 35 centimetres in diameter and 1 to 2 centimetres in height. The base of the pizza must be made with skinless tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella cheese from Campania, garlic, olive oil and basil. The two pizzas to be granted the TSG label will be the Margherita and the Marinara, both thought to be the classic Italian pizzas.”