The Ministry of Health sent the report ‘Supervision and Control of Food and Beverages in Italy – Year 2018‘ to Parliament on 27.1.20. (1) Twenty-one percent of the establishments inspected by ASL, NAS and Guardia di Finanza revealed irregularities, but slightly more than 1 percent of the more than 129,000 analytical checks were non-compliant. Food safety in Italy remains high, overall, thanks in part to the extensive oversight of health authorities. (2)
Official public inspections, Ministry of Health report
The Ministry of Health collects the results of analysis performed by official public control laboratories. As well as data on investigations conducted by the ASL, the Carabinieri Commands for Health Protection (NAS) and Agribusiness Protection (formerly the State Forestry Corps), the Central Inspectorate for the Protection of Quality and Fraud Repression of Agrifood Products (ICQRF), the Guardia di Finanza and customs authorities.
The purpose of official food and beverage control is to verify ‘food and food safety, integrity and wholesomeness, at all stages of food production, processing and distribution, including regulations to ensure fair trade practices and to protect the interests and information of consumers, the manufacture and use of materials and articles intended to come into contact with food‘ (EU Reg. 2017/625, Article 1.2.a).
The report on controls carried out in Italy in 2018 under the coordination of the Ministry of Health reports the collection of 50,481 food samples and the performance of 129,504 analyses (2.6 analytical searches per sample, on average). 1476 analytical nonconformities (1.14% of the total), mostly on animal products and in relation to microbiological criteria.
Microbiological and chemical contamination
‘Microbiological research were a total of 78,055 and involved microorganisms, parasites, yeasts and molds. Of the overall total searches for bacteria, the highest control percentages are observed for the genus Salmonella (26.92%), followed by Listeria monocytogenes (19.32%) and the genus E. coli, including the STEC group of E. coli (7.14%)‘.
Decidedly lower occurrence of pathogenic vibrios(Vibrio cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus, 1.44%), thermotolerant Campylobacter (1.16%), Yersinia enterocolitica (0.33%) and Cronobacter sakazaki (0.17%, on baby food).
Nonconformities to microbiological criteria mainly pertain to two categories of foods:
- products of animal origin (POA, 92.4 percent of total irregularities). Meat and meat products, fish and dairy products,
- ‘other food products’ (which in turn often contain POA, 73.26 percent of noncompliances). These are mostly composite dishes, including ready meals.
Analytically detected physical and chemical contaminations primarily concern the presence of undeclared allergens (1.66%). Particularly on meat and meat products, cereals and cereal products, composite dishes, confectionery products, and spices. This is followed by heavy metals (0.27%) and organic contaminants (e.g., dioxins, 0.14%).
Factory inspections
ASL’s Prevention Departments, Food and Nutrition Hygiene Services and Veterinary Services, performed 144,916 inspections of establishments (out of a total of 467,128 inspections) in 2018, finding 30,690 violations (in 21 percent of cases).
NAS Carabinieri in turn seized a total of nearly 28 thousand tons of food and more than 290 tons of plant protection products in 2018. Providing for the closure and/or seizure of 1,652 facilities. The violations charged:
– in criminal cases, fraud in trade (27 percent of crime reports) and possession/administration of food in poor or harmful condition (26 percent),
– in the administrative area, structural hygiene deficiencies (69 percent of administrative offenses), irregular labeling and lack of food traceability (10 percent of administrative charges).
RASFF, European rapid alert system on food, feed and contact materials, 2018 budget
The Ministry of Health‘s report to Parliament also includes a 2018 budget analysis of notifications made under RASFF(Rapid Alert System on Food and Feed). (3) The European Rapid Alert System on Food, Feed and Contact Materials recorded 3,622 notifications in 2018. Italy ranks third in the number of reports (398), after the Netherlands and Germany.
The largest number of notifications concerned non-compliant products coming from Turkey (318) and China (310), as well as France (215). 156 reports of irregularities on products of Italian origin.
Among the causes of noncompliance-regardless of the risk levels identified from time to time-are:
– Microbiological contamination, with salmonella prevalent (676). Down from 2017, but up from data recorded in 2014-2016, (4)
– chemical contamination. Notifications on mycotoxins (655) and pesticide residues (pesticides, herbicides, 279) recur, albeit down from 2017. This is followed by those from heavy metals (181), additives and dyes (177), migrations from food contact materials and objects (79), veterinary drug residues (49), PAH-Benzopyrene (40) and dioxins (11),
– Physical contamination by allergens not declared on the label (169). In line with 2017 data (165), up from 2016 (125). Numbers, however, far lower than the actual figures of countless outlaw labels and lack of information in public establishments. (5)
Dario Dongo and Sabrina Bergamini
Notes
(1) Ministry of Health (2020). ‘
Supervision and control of food and beverages in Italy – year 2018
‘,
(2) It is reaffirmed, in this regard, the primary need to ensure coordination by the Ministry of Health on all official public controls performed – in Italy and abroad – on behalf of the Italian state. V. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/controlli-ufficiali-schema-di-decreto-da-rivedere
(3) For further discussion, see the free ebook ‘
Food safety, mandatory rules and voluntary standards
‘,
(4) The increasing prevalence in Europe of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella strains deserves attention. V. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/salute/salmonella-e-antibiotico-resistenza
(5) See in this regard the emblematic scientific study from the University of Düsseldorf, published in 2019 in PLoS One. V. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/allergie-al-ristorante-pericolo-garantito-studio-tedesco
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Journalist. Consumption, rights, nutrition, social, environment. Head of Consumers Help. She collaborated with ResetDOC, Il Riformista, La Nuova Ecologia, IMGPress.
