Food crimes
"The more a business is profitable, the more it attracts criminals, from smaller ones, for minor crimes to the mafia association." And it is no coincidence that the mafia - which Caselli defines symbolically as "liquid" - is deeply infiltrated into the food chain, in all its spheres. From land to production, from transport to distribution, agromafie keep everything under control, obtaining an annual turnover that in the 2015 has reached the 16 billion euros.
Striking is the inquiry conducted by the prosecutor's office of Reggio Calabria, in which traditional forms of were discovered 'ndrangheta in the fruit and vegetable market of Milan or in the case of counterfeit oil sold as true in US markets. Equally, the phenomenon ofitalian sounding, business from 60 billion per year, which uses messages and images aimed at enhancing the Italian character of a product that in reality has nothing to do with Italian, causing the loss of 300 thousand jobs in the Italian market.
«The dangers of agromafie concern the poor product quality and safety, which can put consumers' health at risk ": it is above all the protection of the latter that the bill, intended by the Minister of justice Orlando, is aimed at, designed to reform food crimes, inserting new cases of illegal actions.
Caselli recounts: «It was the 20 April 2015 when the Minister Orlando decided to form a commission in charge of processing new forms of intervention against agri-food crimes. I presided over the commission, which was attended by representatives of different professional categories. The terms set by the minister were very tight but in a few months we managed to finish the job. On October 14 we delivered a draft of 49 articles accompanied by some guidelines, and it was turned over to the Council of Ministers waiting to move to the Chambers. 8 months have passed and the project is still there. Although in recent times there have been various slowdowns, it begins to creep into I suspect there are resistances».
It is therefore not clear when the law will actually be discussed, however it's necessary. Required because the current legislation obviously does not work. Caselli called it "an old norm, full of holes, which due to the stratification of sources accumulated over the years ended up weakening the sanctioning framework, leaving room for interpretative uncertainties. By exaggerating, it can be defined criminal law».
Specifically, the new standard would provide for: la definition of new crimes, such as agro-piracy, health disaster and the refusal to withdraw dangerous products from the market; the extension of interception crimes also to the exchange and trade of harmful products; possibility to carry out operations of control, withdrawal and surprise sampling; environmental and landscape protection; incentives, consumer protection and, absolutely, the enhancement of the Italian agri-food heritage.
In conclusion, those interested in learning more about the topic, the observatory for the fight against agri-food promoted by Coldiretti and chaired by Caselli will also present this year agromafie report, now in its fifth edition.
