Extra virgin olive oil like the one from Puglia marked with the yellow sticker, alarmist labels on wine which after Ireland also arrive in Belgium, exports of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables put at risk by the packaging directive and products imported from abroad which magically become Italian thanks to minimal processing. These are the attacks on Made in Italy at the table, denounced by Coldiretti at Cibus in Parma, the International Food Exhibition in Parma (Hall 8 Stand K024).
From extra virgin olive oil to cheeses and cured meats, these are just some of the quality Made in Italy products at the table rejected out of hand by the nutriscore color label which risks establishing itself in Europe, with the alarmist labels which, based on the presence of certain substances calculated on 100 grams of product and not on the actual quantities used, favor artificial products for which in some cases the recipe is not even known and end up paradoxically excluding healthy and natural foods – states Coldiretti Puglia – with serious damage to the Italian agri-food system at a time when it could be the driving force behind a strategic internationalization plan to increase the presence of Made in Italy on foreign markets. Some jewels of Made in Italy at the table are classified with the letter “E” in red (the worst “rating”) but the same extra virgin olive oil, recognized by all as an elixir of long life, can boast just a “C ” while carbonated drinks and ultra-processed foods for which often not even the recipe is known are promoted with flying colors with the green sticker and the letter “A”. A risk also for the health of consumers that the next European Commission will have to definitively avoid.
Despite the results obtained by Coldiretti with the mobilizations in Brussels, from the withdrawal of the agropharmaceuticals directive to the simplification of the CAP, just to name a few, there are several fronts still open that threaten the records of the Italian agri-food sector. An example is the Nutriscore system, the traffic light label that seemed frozen, but to which Portugal has recently opened the doors, joining France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. A system supported by multinationals that penalizes symbolic products of the Mediterranean Diet, not providing information but raising the alarm on some products to influence citizens’ food choices. And in fact the colors of the traffic lights, yellow, red and green, are used to indicate the healthiness of the food, focusing only on some nutrients such as sugar, fat and salt, but without taking into account the quantities consumed.
But the new Union that will emerge from the polls in June is also called to ensure greater transparency on what its citizens bring to the table, supporting the European law proposal promoted by Coldiretti to introduce the obligation to indicate origin on the label of all foods on the market. At Cibus Coldiretti brought some examples of the products discovered during the Brenner Mobilization, where ten thousand farmers checked the contents of trucks and tankers together with the police. They range from Dutch San Marzano tomatoes to Danish pork legs ready to become tricolor hams, up to cheese that recalls the Alps but produced in Northern Europe. All this by taking advantage of the last transformation rule foreseen by the current food customs code which allows foreign products to become 100% Italian with even minimal processing.
If the Coldiretti action has saved wine bottles and flower vases from the dark, fresh-cut fruit and vegetables remain in the balance, where the future of bagged salad or packs of cherry tomatoes is entrusted to exemptions at national level. The risk is a myriad of different positions which could especially damage the exports of Italian fruit and vegetables.
Furthermore, the madness of alarmist labels on wine also risks spreading after Ireland has obtained the green light from the European Commission to adopt terrorist warnings on wine and beer bottles that do not take quantities into account and with Belgium having announced the intention to follow the same path.
Coldiretti is fighting at all levels to curb some EU distortions that threaten the future of the national agri-food sector, causing production to collapse and putting agriculture and the environment in opposition, hoping that the future Commission will make more conscious and non-ideological choices, resolving the problems still open that still weigh on the budgets of European agricultural companies, but also affirming the principles of reciprocity of rules and transparency towards citizens on what they bring to the table. An objective that Coldiretti supports with a large collection of signatures for a law of popular initiatives that imposes the obligation to indicate the origin on all food products on the market in the EU.
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