The activity of the carabinieri of the Nasin agreement with the Ministry of Health, has allowed the subtraction of Italians from the tables in the last year over 8,000 tons of irregular foods of various kinds (fish, dairy products, meat, baked goods and cereals, sodas and beverages), due to unknown origin, poor hygienic-sanitary conditions, storage in unsuitable environments, presence of signs of alteration or with exceeded expiration dates , for a total value of over 34 million euros. The data is announced in conjunction with World Food Safety Day, which is celebrated today 7 June, an international initiative established in 2019 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Food and agriculture (FAO) and Codex Alimentarius and by the Ministry of Health – Directorate General for Hygiene and Food Safety and Nutrition (Dgisan).
Overall, the Nas carabinieri recalled, in the last 12 months around 27,000 inspections were carried out on the entire agri-food chain (production, distribution and catering), detecting irregularities in over 10,000 inspected structures (37%). During the checks, 16,118 violations of national and community regulations governing food hygiene and safety were ascertained; 3 food sector operators arrested (2 veterinarians in charge of meat and dairy supply chain controls for corruption and abuse of office, a dairy farm owner for theft of electricity), reported 9,328 subjects to the competent authorities (of which 772 reported to the Judicial Authority), high administrative fines of over 126 million euros. 798 structures (warehouses, restaurants, bakeries, various food production and sale activities, etc. for a total value of over 500 million euros) closed due to serious hygienic-sanitary and authorization irregularities.
In recent weeks, the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Health has carried out a control campaign aimed at contrasting the illegal forms of marketing of imported ethnic products distributed over large areas of the national territory, often characterized by the absence of the product and hygienic-sanitary requirements . In this sector, the Carabinieri carried out about 700 inspections which led to the detection of irregularities in 329 structures (equal to about 50% of the controlled objectives), following which over 300 sector operators were reported to the Judicial and Health Authorities and disputed 540 administrative sanctions, for a total value of over 500 thousand euros.
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