Italy: compulsory place-of-origin labeling prolonged until December 2021

The obligation to indicate the place of origin of tomatoes on processed products has been extended by the Italian authorities until 31 December 2021. The Minister responsible for Agricultural, Food and Forestry policies, Teresa Bellanova, and the Minister of Economic Development, Stefano Patuanelli, yesterday signed the ministerial decree that extends the country’s provisions in force beyond 1 April 2020, the date when European regulation 775 of 2018 becomes applicable.

"Italy has confirmed its desire to be at the forefront in Europe for transparency of the information stated on labels intended for consumers. We cannot consider going back on this issue and for this reason we have decided to pursue our forward movement. This means that we can provide guarantees to companies in three key sectors of the Italian food industry. We also ask Europe to make courageous choices within the context of the Green Deal and the "Farm to Fork" strategy, by introducing the obligation to indicate the place-of-origin on all food products, at the European level. We once again ask the Commission to respond to requests from companies, which are now suffering the damages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to postpone the application of Regulation 775 for at least one year. This is a rule to which we have stated our criticism, as it is difficult to comply with, given the large number of companies that produce closed packaging in Europe.”

According to the Italian decision, the packaging of tomato products, juices and sauces produced in Italy must continue to bear the following indications on the label:
a) Country of cultivation of the tomato: name of the country in which the tomato was grown.
b) Country of processing of the tomato: name of the country in which the tomato was processed.

If these operations have been carried out in several different countries, the following formulations can be used, depending on the origin: EU country, NON-EU country, EU and NON-EU countries.
If all operations have taken place in Italy, the words "Origin of the tomato: Italy" may be used. 
The indication of origin must be printed on the label in an obvious place and in the same visual field in order to be easily recognizable, clearly legible and indelible.

Regulation comes into force

It should be reminded that from 1 April 2020, Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/775 on origin indication of the primary ingredient of a food is in application. 



The EU Guidance (“Commission Notice”) on the above-mentioned Regulation can be found here. 

Source: Mipaaf, freshplaza.it, politicheagricole.it