"Savory panettone"? Lawyer Dario Dongo responds.

Dear Dongo Lawyer,

I would like to ask your opinion on the legitimacy of designating as 'panettone' products presented in this way which – unlike the traditional panettone recipe – are savoury and contain additional ingredients such as dried tomatoes, oregano, and paprika.

Many thanks as always, Alessio

The lawyer Dario Dongo, Ph.D. in international food law, answers

Dear Alessio,

the Italian government has at the time notified the European Commission, pursuant to the TRIS (Technical Regulations Information System) Directive (EU) 2015/1535, the Interministerial Decree of July 22, 2005, bearing 'regulation of the production and sale of certain baked confectionery products', as well as its subsequent modification introduced by Ministerial Decree of 16 May 2017.

This decree was adopted for 'ensure market transparency, protect and adequately inform the consumer by defining certain widely consumed baked confectionery products in relation to their composition', as well as their production process and their organoleptic properties.

Its function – consistent with the margins of concurrent legislation of the Member States recognised by the Food Information Regulation (EU) No 1169/11, FIR – is to define some legal sales names of foods (Dongo, 2017), in relation to the products indicated therein.

Panettone, legal name of the food

The inter-ministerial decree of 22 July 2005 and subsequent amendments, in article 1 (Panettone), identified and introduced the legal name for this food, specifying its composition, production process, and organoleptic properties:

'1. The denomination «Panettone» is reserved for the soft-textured baked confectionery product, obtained by natural fermentation from sourdough, with a round base shape and a characteristically cracked and cut upper crust, a soft structure with elongated air pockets and the typical aroma of sourdough leavening.

2. Except as provided in Article 7, the panettone dough contains the following: ingredients:

a) wheat flour;

b) sugar;

c) Grade A hen eggs or egg yolk derived from Grade A hen eggs, or both, in quantities ensuring not less than four per cent yolk;

d) butter obtained directly and exclusively from cow's milk cream with a butterfat content of no less than sixteen percent;

e) raisins and candied citrus peel, in a quantity not less than twenty percent;

f) natural yeast consisting of sourdough;

g) salt including iodized salt.

3. IS the producer's right to add also the following ingredients:

a) milk and derivatives;

b) honey;

c) malt;

d) cocoa butter;

e) sugars;

f) yeast meeting the requirements set out in art. 8 of the decree of the President of the Republic 30 November 1998, n. 502, up to the one percent limit;

g) natural and natural identical flavourings;

h) emulsifiers;

i) the preservative sorbic acid;

j) the preservative potassium sorbate.

4. The calculation of the percentages of the ingredients mentioned in paragraphs 2 and 3 is carried out in accordance with Annex I, point 1;

5. The panettone is produced according to the procedure set out in Annex II, point 1.'.

A specific exemption is established for the specifically formulated products for people intolerant to gluten, pursuant to Regulation (EU) No. 828/2014, which may bear the name 'panettone' even if the ingredients containing gluten have been replaced with similar gluten-free components (Article 8-bis – Exceptions).

'Special and enriched products'

Article 7 of the decree of 22 July 2005, dedicated to the 'Special and enriched products', introduces a series of exceptions, so that:

• 'the basic panettone dough can be characterised by the absence of raisins or candied citrus peel or both';

• 'The producer has the right to add to the panettone, pandoro and colomba: fillings, syrups, toppings, glazes, decorations and fruit, as well as other characterising ingredients, with the exception of fats other than butter in the basic doughThe finished product thus contains at least fifty percent of the basic mixture referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 of Articles 1, 2 and 3, calculated on the weight of the finished product.'.

Labeling

The 'special and enriched products', as appropriate:

• must report, in the sales denomination of the product, 'the indication of theabsence of raisins or candied citrus peel or both as well as the indication of absence/modification of the icing and related decoration for the covered or to be covered doves';

• they can report the additions mentioned in the previous paragraph on the label, separately from the dough ingredients;

• can be presented with different fantasy shape features from those provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 1, 'provided that the labelling includes an indication or graphic representation of the shape characteristics of the products';

• can bring back the sales denomination 'panettone', 'so long as completed by the indication of the main characterising ingredients possibly used in addition to or in place of those listed'(Article 8 - Labeling).

'Savory panettone'?

The Article 1 of the ministerial decree specifies both the Mandatory ingredients (and the minimum quantities for eggs, butter, raisins, and candied fruit), both the ingredients and the operators can decide to add voluntarily on products designated as 'panettone', in a list that at first glance appears exhaustive.

However, if you look closely, the next one Article 7 (Special and enriched products) it places no limits on the addition of any other characterising ingredient – including those indicated in the question – and maintain the legal name 'Panettone', provided that:

• thedough should always be made with the Mandatory ingredients and in compliance with the production technology indicated in Article 1; with the express prohibition of adding fats other than butter to the dough (e.g. vegetable oils, margarines, lard);

• la sales denomination where applicable, report the absence of raisins and/or candied citrus peel and indicate the presence of other characterising ingredients.

Sanctions

Le information voluntary which may mislead the consumer as to the characteristics of the food, including its composition, or are in any case confused or ambiguous – in violation of the combined provisions of articles 36.2 and 7.1.a of the FIR – are punished with sanction administrative fine from 3.000 to 24.000 euros, pursuant to Article 16, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 231/17.

Violation of the rules relating to name of food – Regulation (EU) No. 1169/11, FIR, Article 17 – is in turn subject in Italy to a pecuniary administrative sanction from 2.000 to 16.000 euros, pursuant to the Legislative Decree 231 / 17, Article 8, paragraph 1.

It should also be remembered that shared responsibility of the distributor (FIR, article 8.3), who is subject to an administrative fine of between 500 and 4.000 euros for putting up for sale 'foods which he knows or suspects, on the basis of the information in his possession as a professional, do not comply with the applicable food information legislation and the requirements of the relevant national provisions'(Legislative Decree 231/17, article 4.1).

- operators of the food and distribution sector must therefore dedicate caution both to dough conformity with respect to the composition and process criteria of the panettone indicated in article 1, both completeness of the sales name.

For further information, see Dario Dongo's ebook '1169 Penalties. Regulation (EU) 1169/11 – Food news, controls and sanctions' (GIFT, Great Italian Food Trade, 2014).

Misleading advertising

The application of the aforementioned sanctioning provisions does not prevent the imposition by the Competition and Market Authority (Antitrust Italy) of the draconian sanctions established by Consumer Code (Legislative Decree 206/05 and subsequent amendments) for misleading advertising. In particular in cases of 'products that,

• even if they have sales names different from those established in the decree and do not comply with the expected qualitative and quantitative composition characteristics,

• they use forms and presentation methods that are identical and confusingly similar to the regulated products, thus creating confusion in the consumer' (DM 22.7.05, article 9-bis, Sanctions, paragraph 2).

Provisional conclusions

Beyond the declared objectives of 'protect and adequately inform the consumer' compared to the 'composition' of some baked goods which represent the emblem of the seeds Italian cultural and gastronomic heritage, the ministerial decree under examination leaves ample space for creativity of operators, to the point of allowing the addition of an indeterminate number and variety of 'characterizing ingredients' which can freely overturn tradition itself.

The effectiveness of the national standards in question, moreover, is limited to the only Italian market. Consequently, a traditional Italian product such as panettone – and also pandoro, colomba, amaretti and ladyfingers, also considered in the ministerial decree – can be marketed under this name outside Italy without any restrictions whatsoever, thus fuelling the phenomenon of the so-called ''Italian sounding'Pending the registration of some Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs).

Cordially

Dario

References

• Legislative Decree 6 September 2005, no. 206. Consumer Code, pursuant to Article 7 of Law 29 July 2003, no. 229. Last updated on February 24, 2025 on Normattiva https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legislativo:2005-09-06;206

• December 15, 2017, No. 231. Sanctions for violations of the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers and the adaptation of national legislation to the provisions of the same Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 and Directive 2011/91/EU, pursuant to Article 5 of Law No. 170 of August 12, 2016, "European Delegation Law 2015." Last updated on the document published on July 13, 2024 on Normattiva. https://www.normattiva.it/esporta/attoCompleto?atto.dataPubblicazioneGazzetta=2018-02-08&atto.codiceRedazionale=18G00023

• Ministerial Decree of 22 July 2005. Regulations on the production and sale of certain baked goods, as amended by Ministerial Decree of 16 May 2017.

• Dongo, D. (2017, August 21). Name of the food. FT (Food Times).

• Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers. Consolidated text: 01/04/2025 http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/1169/2025-04-01