Italian style in law making: the breakout fashion years for food origin and the compliance with EU law

Over the last years, the Italian Legislator (in wide sense) issued several acts concerning the food sector and in particular four Ministerial acts on the origin of food (milk and some dairy products, rice, durum wheat for pasta production, tomato products), a Legislative Decree on the indication of the production or packaging facility on food labels, and a Legislative Decree laying down sanctions for breach of the provisions on food information to consumers and conforming some national provisions to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. While certain agri-food associations welcomed the fervent activity on food origin and production facilities as a way to protect consumers through the availability of more data than those required by European Union (EU) law, scholars, lawyers, and food business operators raised harsh criticism both on legal and practical perspectives. This chapter focuses on the provisions of the above-mentioned acts and on the national notes that the Ministry for Agricultural, Food, and Forestry Policies issued to explain them; it assesses the compliance with EU law and in particular with Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 and with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/775, laying down the rules for indicating the country of origin or place of provenance of the primary ingredient of a food. The investigation aims at explaining the reasons and contents of the Italian acts, highlighting their critical points and suggesting solutions to the food business operators’ and public officers’ concerns on the coexistence of national and EU provisions.