The Italian Ministry of Food and Forestry Policies has announced plans to introduce compulsory origin labelling on rice packaging.
The pilot project anticipates that the label will indicate the rice-growing country and the processing country and the information should be easily recognisable, clearly legible and indelible.
The decision is part of a set of measures, proposed together with the Ministry of Economic Development, with the aim of protecting the income of rice farmers and enhancing Italian and European productions.
It also follows a public consultation process, during which 80% of Italians requested clear information on the origin of this product.
Italy’s rice sector has been suffering from a price crisis, strongly affected by zero-rate VAT on imports into the EU.
Italy plans to propose compulsory labelling on the EU level and will also ask the EU Commission to stop tax-free imports that “have created a clear market imbalance”, while, at the same time, “not generating positive effects for the small Asian producers”.
As part of the measures to support the industry, Italy will invest €2 million in communication campaigns focusing on the promotion of rice quality.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
