Italy - Pasta and rice: compulsory indication of the origin of the raw material on the label
A public online consultation on the transparency of information on the label of agri-food products, carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture in its website, made clear that 85% of Italians deem as important to know the origin of raw materials for issues related to compliance with food safety standards, especially for pasta. More than 26.000 citizens took part in the survey and the Ministry of Agriculture amended two Decrees last August to ask for the compulsory and non-optional indication of the origin of raw materials on pasta and rice labels.
The Decree on wheat/pasta provides that the labels of dry pasta produced in Italy must indicate the following terms: country of cultivation of wheat and milling country and the words “Italy and other EU and/or non-EU countries” can be used if durum wheat is cultivated at least for 50% in a single country -such as Italy.
As for rice, the country of cultivation, processing and the packaging country must be declared.
The indications on the origin must be put on the label in a well-defined place and in the same field of vision so as to be easily recognizable, clearly legible and indelible.
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