Food News

In April, Italy passed a law to protect food and agriculture. It introduces new criminal offences, increases penalties and expands inspections to curb fraud and counterfeiting.

At the heart of the reform is the new criminal offence of food fraud. The law also introduces a criminal offence for trading in mislabelled food. The bill adds specific circumstances, such as ‘agropiracy’. If any of these circumstances apply, the penalties are increased. The legislature aims to impose harsher penalties for more complex fraud schemes, particularly in cases of serious offences. The law also strengthens the protection of geographical indications, such as DOP and IGP products, which are of central importance to the Italian food industry and exports. The wine sector is being given new tools to combat fraud. For instance, labelling and identification systems for wine bottles are being strengthened. The three-colour stripe, already trialled on Prosecco, will also be used more widely. The aim is to make certified products more easily recognisable. The draft bill on buffalo milk production introduces digital monitoring of milk movements to prevent circumvention practices. It also provides for checks and laboratory tests to verify the origin of products. In the fisheries sector, penalties are being revised. The law stipulates that confiscated foodstuffs still fit for consumption must be donated rather than disposed of. This makes sense both practically and socially. The greatest challenge will be implementing the new regulations as part of day-to-day anti-fraud efforts. AGROLAB Alimentalia welcomes the tightening of legislation regarding the fight against organised food fraud.

YOUR PLUS: Even though we have not yet established specific procedures for verifying origin and authenticity in our own laboratories, we can always call on accredited and specialised partner laboratories to provide our customers with analytical support, even in more complex cases.

Author: Dr Frank Mörsberger, AGROLAB GROUP