|
|
The Italian Ministry of Agriculture has published the report on anti-fraud measures in the agricultural and food sector for the year 2022. According to the report, wine is the most heavily controlled sector. Of a total of 56,500 fraud checks, 19,099 concerned the wine industry. That is more than one third. According to the report, 19.6 per cent of the companies and 13.4 per cent of the wines were objected to. This is an increase compared to 2021, when these figures were 18 and 11 per cent, respectively. There were also "30 reports of offences against the wine sector, 2,349 administrative disputes and 182 seizures worth €23.2 million".
Most of the complaints concerned the "fraudulent marketing of PDO and PGI wines that do not comply with the requirements laid down in the respective production regulations, the adulteration of wine products through dilution and/or chaptalisation and the addition of natural aromas". To this end, irregularities were found in alcohol declarations, accompanying documents, excessive levels of volatile acids and the presence of active ingredients not authorised in organic viticulture, such as metalaxyl, phosphonic acid and ethylphosphonic acid.
Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida stressed that an effective control system "is the best guarantee for protecting the quality of production and helps to increase the added value of products on the markets".
(al / source: wine-searcher)