- Minister Patuanelli said this when speaking in Parliament -
"We are organizing together with some European countries that, like Italy, are fighting against the introduction of an absurd traffic light classification of front-pack nutrition labeling. This will be the best way to try to make a common front against who is probably guided by the companies you mentioned, which have an interest in obtaining an advantage in large-scale distribution for products that are not of our territory, but of another type". So Stefano Patuanelli, Minister of Agricultural Policies, answering the question time in the Senate chamber.
"I believe - he added - it is clear to everyone that this is unacceptable for our country and our productions, also because we have many local productions, such as DOP and IGP products, which by law must guarantee the presence of nutritional elements of a certain type and they certainly cannot comply with what is required to get the absurd green light. Some things have already been done. When I was Minister of Economic Development I was one of the signatories of the battery label proposal, which makes much more sense and clearly highlights the nutritional values of foods and those relating to daily needs".
According to Patuanelli "we must make the European Commission understand that what matters is to transmit the cultural values of healthy eating, which means that a glass of wine at the end of a meal is good for you, while a bottle and a half is not. This is the central theme and it cannot be a label on the bottle to say whether a food is bad or not at all, because this always depends on the way a person eats. We are deeply convinced of this and all together we must fight a strong battle in Europe (not only us as a country, but together with other countries that we are involving in this process) because if it is true, as it is true, that citizens and consumers have the right to know the nutritional values of the food they eat, it is equally true that this right must be guaranteed in the correct way and not to bring an unfair advantage to multinational producers".
