Italy, the new food crimes

The law April 21, 2026, no. 75 – Sanctioning provisions to protect Italian food products, effective from May 29, 2026 – reshapes the sanction regime regarding food law in Italy.

The reform affects the penal code and the code of criminal procedure, the administrative liability of entities and administrative sanctions, aiming to strengthen the fight against food fraud and unfair commercial practices.

Following, a first analysis of the new food crimes and specific aggravating circumstances, accessory penalties and mandatory confiscation, the administrative liability of entities.

Amendments to the penal code

Article 1 of law 75/2026 introduces a series of Amendments to the penal code Italian. In particular:

• repeals the crime of Selling food substances not genuine as genuine (article 516 penal code);
• repeals the aggravating circumstance under article 517-bis penal code, established for the crimes under previous articles 515 (Commercial fraud), 516 (see above) and 517 (Selling industrial products with misleading marks) when they involve foods and beverages protected by 'Geographical Indication' (GI. e.g. PDO, PGI);
• increases the penalty established for the crime of Counterfeiting of geographical indications or designations of origin of agri-food products (art. 517-quater penal code), from ‘imprisonment up to two years and a fine up to 20,000 euros’ to ‘imprisonment from one to four years and a fine from 10,000 to 50,000 euros';
• extends the material fact of the aforesaid crime – already provided for those who, for profit, introduce into the territory of the State, hold for sale, place for sale with direct offer to consumers or in any case circulate the same products with counterfeit GIs – to cases of introduction into the territory of the State, ‘also in temporary custody or in customs warehouse’, transit shipment, export and transport of agri-food products whose geographical indication or designation of origin is known to be ‘counterfeit or altered';
• introduces the crimes of Food fraud (art. 517-sexies), Trade of foods with misleading marks (art. 517-septies);
• introduces various accessory penalties, updates the aggravating circumstances and extends the cases of mandatory confiscation (art. 517-octies, 518.1, 518.2);
• extends the administrative liability of entities to other predicate offenses.

Food fraud

The new crime of Food fraud applies outside the cases referred to in article 517-septies (Trade of foods with misleading marks).

‘Anyone,

• in order to mislead the buyer and profit from it,
• in the exercise of an agricultural, commercial, industrial or intermediary activity,
• imports, exports, ships in transit, introduces into temporary custody or customs warehouse, transports, offers for sale, distributes or otherwise circulates, including by remote communication techniques or with digital tools in telematic networks, food, water and beverages known to be not genuine or, by origin, provenance, quality or quantity, substantially different from those indicated, declared or agreed
• is punished, if the act is not provided for as a more serious crime, with imprisonment from two months to one year e with fine from 1,000 to 4,000 euros’.

‘The punishability è excluded when the conduct, due to the small quantities or economic value of the product or the absence of actual harm to the consumer or the market, is of slight entity‘ (art. 517-sexies – Food fraud).

It is worth recalling here the hypotheses of more serious crimes that may be configured: Adulteration or counterfeiting of food substances (art. 440 penal code), Trade of counterfeit or adulterated food substances (art. 442 penal code), Trade of harmful food substances (art. 444 penal code). Such crimes against public health are also punished negligently (art. 452 penal code).

Trade of foods with misleading marks

The new crime of Trade of foods with misleading marks applies to ‘Anyone,

• for the purpose of making a profit,
• in the exercise of an agricultural, industrial, commercial, import, export, temporary custody or customs warehouse introduction activity or intermediation of food, water and beverages,
• uses distinctive marks or indications, even if figurative, which he knows to be false or misleading
• in order to mislead the buyer,
• also through distance communication techniques or digital tools in telematic networks,
• about theorigin, on the provenance, on the quality or on the quantity of the food or ingredients'.

Such crime ‘is punished with imprisonment from three to eighteen months e with fine up to 20,000 euros’ (Art. 517-septies).

Accessory penalty and aggravating circumstances

Article 517-octies – Accessory penalty and aggravating circumstances – provides that:

• in cases of Food fraud (art. 517-sexies) and Trade of foods with misleading marks (art. 517-septies) ‘the judge,
• if the act is of particular severity or in case of specific recidivism,
• may order the temporary closure, from five days to three months, of the establishment or the business in which the act was committed'.

The penalties established for the aforementioned crimes are increased if:

• the conduct concerns the designation of origin or thegeographical indication of food or ingredients protected by current regulations;
• the acts are committed by means of false documents of transport or false declarations to the supervisory body;
• the facts are of particular seriousness due to quantity of the food subject to the offense;
• the conducts concern foods indicated as organic in the absence of the relevant certification.

The penalties established for the aforementioned crimes are increased by one third to one half if:

• two or more of the aggravating circumstances mentioned above concur;
• the conducts provided for therein – apart from cases of criminal association, including mafia-type (articles 416 and 416-bis of the penal code) ‘are carried out through multiple operations and through the establishment of means and organized continuous activities aimed at committing such crimes'.

Further accessory penalties

Pursuant to article art. 518.1 – Further accessory penalties – in both cases of conviction for:

• the crimes of food fraud and trade in food with false labels, carried out through multiple operations and through the establishment of means and organized continuous activities aimed at committing such crimes (art. 517-octies, fourth paragraph);
• criminal association, including mafia-type, directed at the commission of the crimes provided for in the new chapter II-bis (Of crimes against agri-food assets, articles from 517-quater to 517-septies) of title VIII of the second book of the penal code

the judge must apply the accessory penalty referred to in article 30 c.p. (Prohibition from a profession or an art, ndr) as well as the prohibition, for a period of not less than one month nor more than five years, to obtain:

• ‘registrations or measures, however named, with content authorizing, concessive or enabling for carrying out entrepreneurial activities;
• theaccess to contributions, financing o subsidized loans or other disbursements of the same type, however named, granted or disbursed by the State, other public bodies or the European Union for carrying out entrepreneurial activities'.

In both the above cases also:

• ‘if the act is of particular seriousness or in case of specific recidivism', the judge 'may order the closure temporary, from one to twelve months, of the establishment or business where the act was committed';
• ‘if both conditions referred to in the first sentence are met, the judge may order the revocation of authorizations, licenses or similar administrative measures that allow the exercise of the activity as well as the definitive closure of the establishment or business where the act was committed'.

The prohibitive and obstructive sanctions set forth above also apply in case of conviction for the crime of Counterfeiting of geographical indications or designations of origin of agri-food products (art. 517-quater c.p.), upon the occurrence of any of the circumstances aggravating factors provided for in article 517-octies (false transport documents or false declarations to the supervisory body, significant quantities, foods presented as organic but lacking certification).

Mandatory and equivalent confiscation

in cases of Counterfeiting of geographical indications or designations of origin of agri-food products (art. 517-quater c.p.), Food fraud (art. 517-sexies) and Trade of foods with misleading marks (art. 517-septies)

• ‘without prejudice to the rights of the injured party to restitution and compensation for damages’
• è always ordered 'the confiscation of the things that served or were intended to commit the crime and of the things that are its object, product, price or profit, unless they belong to a person unrelated to the crime itself'.

The judge orders the confiscation 'by equivalent' – that is to say 'the confiscation of assets available to the offender for a value corresponding to the profit’ – 'when it is not possible to execute the confiscation of things that served or were intended to commit the crime and of those things that constitute its object, the product, the price, or the profit, belonging to anyone'.

The confiscation is ordered also in cases of application of the penalty at the request of the parties (so-called 'plea bargaining'. Articles 518.2, 474-bis of the Criminal Code).

Administrative liability of entities

Law 75/2026 also amends Legislative Decree 231/2001 – which introduced the Administrative liability of entities for offenses committed in their interest or for their benefit – expanding the catalogue of predicate offenses listed in article 25-bis.1 (Crimes against industry, commerce and food heritage):

• to the conduct already provided for in articles 513 (Disturbance of the freedom of industry or commerce), 515 (Commercial fraud), 517 (Selling industrial products with misleading marks), 517-ter (Manufacture and trade of goods made by usurping industrial property titles) and 517-quater (Counterfeiting of geographical indications or designations of origin of agri-food products) of the penal code
• are now also added the cases referred to in art. 517-octies, fourth paragraph penal code, that is to say the cases of food fraud and trade with false marks committed with multiple operations and through continuing activities organized.

Conclusions

The update of the already solid sanctioning framework safeguarding the authenticity and quality of agri-food products confirms Italy's vocation to lead, in Europe and worldwide, the fight against food fraud. A leadership that rests on two inseparable pillars: the excellence of the authorities and the law enforcement agencies responsible for control and repression, and the severity of criminal penalties unmatched in the European landscape.

On the operational front, Italy can count on a enforcement system unique for depth and articulation. In addition to the health and veterinary services control authorities, the following are noted in this regard:

• in the Carabinieri Corps, the Anti-Adulteration Unit (NAS) has the longest experience in Europe in the combined administrative-criminal approach to combating food fraud; added to this are the Carabinieri Command for Agri-food Protection and the Command of Forest, Environmental and Agri-food Units;
• The Central Inspectorate for the Protection of Quality and Repression of Frauds of Agri-food Products (ICQRF), also equipped with specific competences to impose administrative sanctions in various areas, as well as 8 analytical laboratories.

On the sanctions front – in the absence of a harmonized European definition of food fraud (Dongo, 2018) – theItaly is the only Member State to punish as a crime the fraud on quality, origin, and authenticity of agri-food products, even regardless of the existence of a danger to public health.

France indeed punishes tromperie with imprisonment for up to two years, however without considering cases related to the authenticity of origin. Germany relies on a Blankettstrafrecht oriented to health safety, lacking an autonomous crime of fraud on quality and origin. Spain in turn provides food-related crimes in the penal code, but these are limited to cases of danger to public health.

the law 75/2026 consolidates and further projects this primacy. Extending the criminal liability to the intermediaries and to the transporters, and explicitly covering conduct relating to goods in transit, in temporary custody, in customs warehouses, and destined for export, the reform eliminates residual grey areas that the most sophisticated frauds had learned to exploit.

From this derives a direct and measurable benefit for all international buyers who source from interlocutors based in Italy: choosing an Italian partner means today being able to rely on the most advanced legal system in Europe for the maximum protection of the authenticity and conformity of agri-food products.

Dario Dongo

Credit cover Pavel Danilyuk

Bibliography

• Legislative Decree 8 June 2001, No. 231. Regulation of the administrative liability of legal persons, companies, and associations even lacking legal personality, pursuant to article 11 of law 29 September 2000, No. 300. Normattiva (last update to the act published on 01/09/2026). https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legislativo:2001-06-08;23
• Dongo, D. (2018, March 12). Food frauds, CE Knowledge Center. FT (Food Times). https://www.foodtimes.eu/it/pianeta/frodi-alimentari-centro-di-conoscenza-ce/
• Law April 21, 2026, no. 75, Sanctioning provisions to protect Italian food products. Official Gazette May 14, 2026 no.110 https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2026/05/14/26G00089/SG