Notification requirements

Some categories of food products are subjected to notification requirements to the Health Ministry. Before the import or the selling of this products it is necessary to notify their labels to the Health ministry. The products shall be verified in respect of:

• the use of authorized substance
• the daily assumption limits of nutritional substance, particularly vitamins and minerals
• the wholeness and precision of the labels, especially regarding the additional information for the products that are subjected to notification.

Foodstuffs for which registration by the Ministry of Health is compulsory in Italy

• Foods intended for specific nutritional purposes (see Legislative Decree no. 111/1992 of the Italian Law);
• Food supplements according to Legislative Decree. nr. 169/2002.
• Foods fortified with vitamins or minerals, see Directive 1925/2006/EC
• Foodstuffs approved under Directive 258/97/EC “novel foods” for novel foods and novel food ingredients and used for their intended purpose of providing nutritional value.
• Foodstuffs which have been enriched with substances not covered by Directive 258/1997/EC with a view to providing targeted nutritional value.

Notification

The responsible of the placing on the market of a product in the territory of the Italian Republic must respect the notification requirements to the Health ministry. In most of the cases after 90 is the consent silence active.

In case of objection the society must act within 30 days. If it is ordered to not put on or to pull back a product from the market, the notification will be send also to the competent hygiene office to ensure that the inspections are carried out. Only the notified products can be sold.

The food supplement registry allows the operators to verify if the products have been legally noticed.

For further information please contact directly the labeling service of the Chamber of commerce of Bolzano.