The obligation to indicate the country of origin on the label arrives for several products such as bagged fruits and vegetables, nuts, almonds, hazelnuts and other shelled fruits, dried citrus, dried figs and dried grapes, uncultivated mushrooms and saffron, to prevent products imported from abroad from being passed off as Made in Italy. This was made known by Coldiretti in highlighting the new important achievement of the largest Agricultural Organization in Europe for the transparency of information to consumers, with the publication in the Official Journal of the EU of Delegated Regulation 2023/2429 regarding marketing standards for the fruit and vegetable sector, for certain processed fruit and vegetable products and for the banana sector. A novelty that responds to the requests of the 80 percent of Italians who, according to the Coldiretti/Censis report, check on the label the ingredients of which the food they buy is composed. Moreover, these are products that have entered powerfully into the diet of Italians because of their ease of use and because of their nutritional properties where Italy – Coldiretti stresses – moreover has a strong tradition of quality production.
This is a further step forward in Coldiretti’s battle for transparency in Europe and in Italy, where the basket of food products that on the shelves must mandatorily indicate on the label the origin of the raw material used will concern more than 4/5 of the expenditure, with the full application of the Regulation as of January 1, 2025. However,” Coldiretti denounces, “it remains unknown in several cases, from fruit juices to jams, from canned legumes to bread to cookies, without forgetting the need to get even in restaurants to indicate the origin of meat and fish served at the table. At the European Union level, the path of transparency supported by Coldiretti began with beef after the mad cow disease emergency in 2002, while since 2003 it has been mandatory to indicate variety, quality and origin of fresh fruit and vegetables. Since Jan. 1, 2004, there has been an identification code for eggs and, as of Aug. 1, 2004, a requirement to indicate on the label the country of origin where honey was harvested Italy, which is a European leader in quality has led the way in EU food policies with the Made in Italy shopping-saving labels with the obligation to indicate the origin of products on sale extended, from milk to tomato puree, from cheeses to cured meats to rice and pasta thanks to interministerial decrees that must now be – concludes Coldiretti – extended by December 31, 2023.
