A J’accuse on a new European directive that abolishes the requirement to indicate the manufacturing plant was launched by some Italian producers against the first examples ‘mute’ labelling that are appearing on the European markets. A useful precision that also hinders the Italian sounding phenomenon, i.e. foods presented as made in Italy but manufactured elsewhere. Knowing exactly where and who makes what we eat is the purpose of the battle that some Italian companies are carrying out in an attempt to maintain the obligation on food labels to show the establishment of production (sanctioned by the Italian law). European legislation on the labelling of foods, which became law on 13th december 2014, Eu Regulation 1169/2011, merely imposes the obligation to indicate the company legal responsible for the brand, which does not generally identify the exact factory in which the product was produced. To be clear: a registered office, with the same address and street number, can legally represent brands and products that are made in different factories and even abroad. The indication of the factory, now, is optional. But it is easy to see that the big European retailers, no longer forced to provide this indication and therefore not subject to any sanctions, will tend to eliminate it from their private label, as indeed is already happening.
