The recent conference dedicated by the ASL Torino to the new regulation on official public controls (1) was able to share some reflections on the role of the health administration. Which inevitably, as will be seen, includes verification and intervention on consumer information relating to food products.
EU Reg. 2017/625, scope and protected interests
'This Regulation applies to official controls carried out to verify compliance with the legislation, issued by the Union or by the Member States in application of Union legislation in the following sectors relating to: a) food and food safety, integrity and healthiness, at all stages of food production, processing and distribution, including rules designed to ensure fair commercial practices and to protect consumers' interests and information, the manufacture and use of materials and objects intended to come into contact with food [...] '(EU regulation 2017/625, art. 1)
Public health, in the new regulation, it is therefore configured as a broader legal asset, which starts from concrete needs for the healthiness of the food (see next paragraph) and transcends them, to include traditionally disjoint patrimonial aspects.
Information to the consumer assumes value as such, to the point of considering untruthful news as a sort of threat, an attack on the social pact that unites the supply chain from the farm to the fork, from stable to table.
The National Integrated Control Plan (PNI) on the other hand, with the reprimand of the various authorities, signals a cultural turning point precisely in the aspiration to restore the 'correct value of food'. A value that must also be guaranteed through its adequate - as truthful and transparent - representation.
Food safety and consumer information
The health relief of consumer information has been highlighted since General Food Law. In the parts where it is mentioned the need to consider the news accompanying the food for the purposes of its safety assessment, which must also take into account the health needs of vulnerable categories of consumers.
The general labeling requirements provided for in Food Information Regulation, (3) moreover, they include news of evident medical importance. Such as for example:
- special storage conditions, (4)
- statements relating to allergens, the absence of gluten and lactose,
- 'sensitive' ingredients (eg caffeine and quinine, glycyrrhizinic acid, phenylalanine, phytosterols and stanols of plant origin, polyols).
Other news on the label that are relevant for public health purposes are found in various horizontal measures (i.e. applicable to the generality of foods, such as:
- batch code (5)
- Nutrition & Health Claims (6)
- addition of minerals, vitamins and other substances to food products. (7)
They are then added the information provided for by vertical regulations among which are cited, as a mere example:
- food supplements, conditions of use and information, (8)
- origin of the meat, information relating to the livestock sector. (9)
Controls and sanctions, power games
Lo sanctions decree scheme act to punish the violations of the reg. EU 1169/11, as reported, attributes sanctioning competence to the ICQRF in an apparently exclusive way.
The EU regulation 2017/625 however, it requires Member States to coordinate all official public control activities carried out on the food supply chain by a single authority. In our country, inevitably, the Ministry of Health. The Member State may delegate certain tasks to another authority, with the duty, however, to designate 'a single authority to coordinate cooperation and contacts with the Commission and other Member States in relation to official controls and other official activities'(Article 4.2.b).
The question cannot therefore be resolved in the mere removal from the health authorities of part of its own competences, with an act of government that responds only to the interests of the representatives of the category. Since it is clear to everyone the enormous disproportion of resources between the Health Administration and the Inspectorate for Quality Control and the Repression of Fraud, relegating to the latter body the 'exclusivity' on sanctions means drastically reducing their scope, nationwide. (10)
The approach proposed by the Gentiloni government therefore it benefits farmers and industrialists. In a short-sighted and individualistic vision - but at the same time corporate, so electoral and 'political' - to reduce the impact of legality on the work of businesses. But the reduction of the 'risk of fines' constitutes a weak point for the common interest in food safety and transparency of information. A betrayal of that social pact mentioned in the first paragraph, with the further risk of damaging the integrity and reputation of the Made in Italy: food.
Controls on consumer information, the role of the health administration
'If the case of non-compliance is ascertained, the competent authorities (…) take the appropriate measures to ensure that the operator concerned remedies the cases of non-compliance and prevents it from recurring '(EU regulation 2017/625, article 138).
In the end and from the beginning, the European regulation on official public controls. That in the hierarchy of sources of law has a superordinate role even with respect to the Italian constitutional norms. And it is crystal clear in providing that the supervisory authorities, in the event of non-compliance found, must take 'appropriate measures'. Between these, 'arrange the treatments on the goods, the modification of labels or corrective information to be provided to consumers'. (11)
Prescriptions on labels, signs in bulk food outlets, menus and registers in public establishments, canteens and Catering. Administrative (12) and criminal (13) sanctions in the event of non-fulfillment, medical seizure and report of crime ad abundantiam, where applicable. (14)
Duty is Power. (15) Food safety, correct consumer information, justice. Above all merchandise and political convenience, in compliance with European rules.
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) See reg. EU 2017/625
(2) See reg. CE 178/02, article 14
(3) See reg. EU 1169/11, article 9
(4) See paragraph B of the article http://www.foodagriculturerequirements.com/category/notizie/export-in-austria-è-ora-di-rispondere-per-le-rime-ai-consulenti-di-gruppo-rewe
(5) Essential for managing food security crises. See dir. 91/2011 / EU
(6) EC Reg. 1924/06, reg. EU 432/12 and later
(7) EC Reg. 1925/06
(8) Dir. 2002/46 / EC, reg. CE 1170/09
(9) See reg. CE 1760, 1825/00, reg. UE 1337/13. Information relating to animals, seeds and embryos, and risk management meanwhile circulates through the Traces system (Trade Control and Expert System) https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/traces_en
(10) In homage therefore to the proponents of the soft law. However, this is responsible for the ineffectiveness of the prevention of food fraud, as already commented
(11) See reg. EU 625/2017, article 138
(12) See legislative decree 193/07, article 6
(13) See art. 650 criminal code, non-compliance with Authority provisions
(14) See Law 283/1962, articles 1 and 5, criminal code, articles 444 and 452
(15) 'If you have the will, you find the way'(Albert Einstein)
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
