Food Laws in Italy

• In Italy, all olive oil is subject to country-of-origin labelling laws.Bottle of Olive Oil image by kellykramer from Fotolia.com
  
  Italy has some of the best food in the world, and the country's government is passionate about maintaining Italy's food heritage--through legislation if necessary. Because it is part of the European Union, the Italian government is not free to discriminate against products imported from other European Union countries, so the government has attempted to maintain the authentic Italian nature of its cuisine through other types of national and local legislation.
  
  

Bans on Foreign Food

• Since 2009, some localities in Italy have banned the opening of certain types of restaurants. The Tuscan city of Lucca, in one of Italy's most traditional food regions, has banned the opening of any new restaurant serving foreign food within the city walls. Milan has also banned new restaurants that serve ethnic food, such as kebabs, although it will allow new European restaurants to open.
  
  

Label Laws

• Italy has adopted strict country-of-origin labelling laws. These require manufacturers and importers of certain types of food to list on their labels where the product comes from. European Union law requires Italy to label the country of origin for all beef, fish, seafood, fruit and vegetables that are sold. However, in 2004, Italy passed an additional country-of-origin labelling law that requires producers of olive oil, honey and poultry to also label their products with the country of origin. In 2006, Italy added canned tomato products such as passata to the list, and in 2007 Italy began requiring producers of olive oil to label not only the country where the oil was produced, but also the origin of the olives and their percentage in the final product.
  
  

Pure Chocolate

• In 2003, the Italian Parliament passed a law defining pure chocolate as containing 100 percent cocoa butter, although products containing soy lecithin and natural flavorings can also be labelled pure chocolate. All chocolate products that contain vegetable fats, in addition to or instead of cocoa butter, may only be sold in Italy as "chocolate substitute."
  
  

Molecular Gastronomy Laws

• In 2010, the Italian legislature passed laws banning some of the ingredients used in the molecular gastronomy style of cooking. The law prohibits restaurant kitchens from storing and using any gaseous substance, including liquid nitrogen, which is commonly used in molecular gastronomy. The law also prohibits restaurants from using processed chemical additives, also required for many techniques used in molecular gastronomy. Chemical additives and gases are still allowed in the preparation of processed foods.