About Peruvian food: thi cuisine is influenced by the many diverse cultures that settled here around the 1800, Spanish, French, Italian, African, Japanese and Chinese, so expect choices like arroz chaufa, Chinese-influence (with beef/chicken), lomo saltado, Spanish, tiradito, Japanece influence, and the most important of all Andean with the potato.

Consumers are urged not to eat Locatelli Ricotta Salata cheese imported from Italy with packaging marked "SELL BY 01/21/08". The US Georgia Department of Agriculture has found Listeria monocytogenes in a sample.

An Italian importer of Third World organic food is fighting against a British plan to 'ban' all organic food from being flown into the island nation.

The economy of Italy has changed hugely since the end of World War II. From an agriculturally based economy, it has developed into an industrial country ranked as the world's sixth-largest economy in USD exchange-rate terms and seventh largest in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). More recently, Italy has faced sluggish economic growth and reduced international competitiveness. However, statistics as of 2007 show signs of acceleration in GDP growth, estimated at 2% in 2006, a record high since 2000.The country belongs to the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations; it is a member of the European Union and the OECD.Italy's economic strength is in the processing and the manufacturing of goods, primarily in small and medium-sized family-owned firms. The country has been less successful in terms of developing world class multinational corporations. In addition, the small and medium-sized firms typically manufacture products that are technologically moderately advanced and therefore increasingly face crushing international competition. However, Italy's Institute for Foreign Trade, has initiated the "Machines Italia" program, in conjunction with leading Italian machinery manufacturers' associations to promote Italian manufacturers' recognized attributes for creativity, flexibility and innovation in bringing customized solutions to their clients. Currently the Machines Italia program operates in various foreign markets as the United States, Canada and Mexico.