EU: not only watered down wine and insects at the table. Consumption of meat and cured meats made in Italy is also under attack. The Coldiretti complaint
From the proposal to lengthen the wine with water to that of putting alarmist labels on the bottles as for cigarettes but also the green light to insects at the table and the cuts to the promotion programs to discourage the purchase of meat and cured meats are some of the new addresses of the European Union where traffic light labeling systems are also spreading, penalizing products that are symbolic of the Mediterranean diet. Coldiretti makes this known in underlining that the proposal to legitimize the practice of de-alcoholication of wines with a designation of origin is not the only questionable news coming from the EU.
EU, via alcohol from wine and … Coldiretti: “Alarmist labels on wine bottles to discourage their consumption”
In fact, removing alcohol from wine and adding water follows – Coldiretti underlines – the proposal to introduce alarmist labels on wine bottles to discourage their consumption provided for in the Communication on the “Action Plan to improve the health of European citizens” which states that the Commission “will propose a mandatory indication of the list of ingredients and nutritional indications on alcoholic beverages by the end of 2022 and health alarms by the end of 2023” while also reviewing the “alcoholic beverages promotion policy”. Furthermore – continues COLDIRETTI – the Commission also wants to favor “the transition to diets more based on vegetable products, with less red and processed meat”.
WINE: SCORDAMAGLIA (ITALIAN CHAIN), ‘UNFORGETTABLE BATTLE AGAINST NATURAL FOODS FROM EU’“After the resolution on insects, the ideological battles against meat and the proposal for a traffic light labeling that goes against the principles of the Mediterranean diet, today Europe also wants to water down WINE. It almost seems that the EU has embarked on a incomprehensible battle against natural foods in favor of manufactured products, to lose our extraordinary Made in Italy and consumer rights “. There is talk of “damage to one of the symbolic products of our agri-food sector and a huge scam for the consumer. Not to mention that the shock proposal comes in a year that is already very difficult for the sector also due to the closure of the restaurant and which has warned a a drastic drop in exports in the first months of this year, which even reached -37% in the US. If this is the road to ‘the food of the future’, it is better to immediately reverse the direction “. |
EU and insects at tables: flour moth. Coldiretti: beware of allergic reactions
A measure announced a few days after the marketing authorization as food for the dried yellow grubs of the miller blackhead, better known as the mealworm, after scientific evaluation by EFSA. This is – underlines COLDIRETTI – the first green light in the Union for the human food use of a whole insect, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on Novel Foods. The authorization concerns the possibility of using the whole dried insect in the form of snacks and as a flour ingredient in a series of food products.
According to experts, its consumption is not disadvantageous from a nutritional point of view and does not pose food safety problems even if – underlines Coldiretti – the Novel Food based on Tenibrio molitor can induce sensitization and allergic reactions to insect proteins and can ’cause reactions in people with an allergy to shellfish and dust mites. However, 54% of Italians who are against insects at the table do not like the news – underlines COLDIRETTI – while 24% are indifferent, in favor of 16% and 6% do not respond, according to the COLDIRETTI / Ixe ‘survey.
Coldiretti, the danger linked to the diffusion in Europe of nutriscore and traffic light labeling systems
“What is worrying in this context is the diffusion in Europe of nutriscore and traffic light labeling systems, misleading, discriminatory and incomplete, which end up paradoxically excluding from the diet healthy and natural foods that have been present on the tables for centuries to favor artificial products of which in some cases not even the recipe is known “affirms the president of COLDIRETTI Ettore Prandini underlining that” based on the presence of certain substances calculated on 100 grams of product and not on the actual quantities used, this type of label ends up advising against extra virgin olive oil and promote dietetic carbonated drinks produced with artificial substances and of which in some cases the recipe is not even known “.
Coldiretti, “legalized deception for consumers who find themselves paying for water like wine”
The right commitment of the Union to protect the health of citizens according to COLDIRETTI cannot translate into simplistic decisions that risk unjustly criminalizing individual products regardless of the quantities consumed. The nutritional balance – explains COLDIRETTI – must in fact be sought among the different foods consumed in the daily diet and certainly not condemning the specific product. A correct diet cannot ignore the local historical and cultural production reality that has been consolidated over the centuries and preserved over time by generations of farmers. For this reason it cannot be allowed to call a product still wine – underlines COLDIRETTI – in which the characteristics of naturalness have been completely compromised due to the invasive treatment that intervenes in the centuries-old process of transformation of grapes into must and therefore in wine. A legalized deception for consumers who find themselves paying for water like wine.
“The introduction of partial and total alcohol removal as new oenological practices represents a big risk and a very dangerous precedent that would seriously jeopardize the identity of Italian and European wine, also because the” natural “and legal definition of the wine in force in Europe it provides for a ban on adding water “concludes the president of COLDIRETTI Ettore Prandini in underlining that the commitment to stop a dangerous drift that risks compromising the main voice of national agri-food exports which overall generates a turnover of over 11 billion in Italy and abroad.
The collapse of the consumption of made in Italy wine abroad
The worrying news also comes at a difficult time for the sector due to the dramatic drop in the consumption of Made in Italy wine abroad, which reaches an all-time low for over 30 years due to the 20% drop in exports in 2021, according to the COLDIRETTI analysis on Istat data in January with Italy being the main world exporter of wine. Italy – concludes COLDIRETTI – is however confirmed as the first world producer with 49.1 million hectoliters and also the first exporter in both still and sparkling wines with a total of 20.8 million hectoliters, ahead of Spain with 20.2 and France with 13.8.
Soon at the table we will eat insects:
for the EU, mealworms are food
WINE: COUNT LUCIO TASCA, EU HYPOTHESIS TO DROP IT? ‘NO RISKS, IT WILL EVEN CONVERT’ ASTHEMICS ‘
No risk from ‘watered down’ wine being studied at EU level: indeed it could convert “even non-drinkers to good wine”. Thus at Adnkronos COUNT Lucio Tasca d’Almerita, at the helm of one of the most technologically advanced wineries in Italy, on the hypothesis on the table of the European agriculture ministers to launch a non-alcoholic wine to expand export markets. Often referred to as ‘Last of the Leopards’, heir to the renowned Sicilian wine dynasty that includes bottles such as Rosso del CONTE and Regaleali, Lucio Tasca is not afraid of the news on the market, on the contrary he sees them as an opportunity. “Everyone can do what they want – he says – there will be a group that will want non-alcoholic wine and another that will not want it”. “Everyone is free, everyone must do as they wish, then the transfer market will choose” Tasca insists. “I think this product could take that slice of the market that didn’t like wine, teetotalers. So I don’t think there are risks for the classic wine market, indeed there will be those who will appreciate it more” and maybe, he concludes, “at the end will also drag teetotalers to drink good wine “.