Coldiretti raises the alarm: “The multiplication of low-cost and low-cost offers and Christmas promotions risks bringing low-quality products to the holiday tables of Italians, while throttling agricultural businesses, forced to sell at prices that do not even cover production costs”. At the same time, the association renews the Christmas initiative of solidarity of the Italian agri-food system to bring the great food excellence of Made in Italy to the tables of the most difficult families. The initiative, promoted by Coldiretti, Filiera Italia, Campagna Amica and Codacons, “sees the participation of the most important economic and social realities of the country to give the poorest to enjoy the best of national gastronomy”. The appointment is for tomorrow, Wednesday 22 December, at 9.30 at Palazzo Rospigliosi in via XXIV Maggio 43 in Rome at the Coldiretti headquarters, from where the delivery trucks will leave.
The occasion will also present the Coldiretti survey on “Covid, the Christmas of the new poor” containing data and analysis on social and economic changes at the time of the pandemic, with household spending threatened by contagion and inflation.
As for the low-cost and low-cost offers, Coldiretti has drawn up a vademecum to help consumers not to fall into the traps of the market, where “due to unfair practices the burdens of commercial promotions are unloaded on the weakest link in the supply chain”.
Coldiretti’s first advice is to always check the origin on the label, especially in those products where it is mandatory to indicate the origin. An Abate pear, for example, may not necessarily be an Italian pear. The low-priced promotion of foreign products passed off as tricolors deceives citizens, ruining the most anticipated lunches and dinners of the year, and also ends up exerting downward pressure on the compensation paid to farmers.
Reading the label carefully, with reference to the ingredients, also helps to understand if you are putting low quality foods in the cart. The presence of too many dyes, additives, artificial flavors and preservatives, for example, represents an alarm bell regarding the characteristics of the products used. But when the offers are particularly scarce it is always good, says Coldiretti, to also check the expiration date, since it could be too close or even already past.
It is important to check the product identity of the product in promotion: an “olive oil” is not an extra virgin olive oil, just as a “mountain” or “farmer” ham is not necessarily a “Dop” ham with denomination of origin made with Italian meat, or a “grana” or “grater” cheese is not necessarily a “PDO” too. In general, Coldiretti warns, we must also be wary of too low prices as the exploitation of farms and workers hides behind them. Attention also to the prices of products not in promotion, because they often suffer markups to take advantage of the “owl” effect of discounted foods.
Precisely to rebalance the distribution of value along the supply chain while protecting citizens and farmers, the legislative decree implementing the Uu Directive on unfair commercial practices, strongly desired by Coldiretti, came into force on 15 December.