“Italy and the Mediterranean Diet are being attacked inappropriately but we will fight, defend and win because the government and the Parliament are all on the same side, they are not divided”. This is how Ivano Vacondio, president of Federalimentare, comments with Adnkronos on the recent initiatives in Europe and beyond, which seem to be rowing against Italian Food & Beverage, especially of quality. Starting with the proposal to produce non-alcoholic wine or almost vegetable ‘milk’ derived from peas to continue the offensive launched with the Nutriscore: “a labeling system where you need to understand what is scientific behind a letter and an algorithm. it seems that applying an algorithm to food is an offense to common sense. And we who are among the longest-lived countries in the world are attacked on our diet which is a source of pride … “. Vacondio is a river in flood but basically it is optimistic. According to the number one of Confindustria’s food experts “we are playing an important game within the framework of the UN 2030 Agenda and this year at the summits that will take place in Italy during the Italian Presidency of the G20 we will try to give guidelines on the subject of nutrition and sustainability “. But not only that, also on the occasion of the B20, where Confindustria together with the FAO will organize a working table, and at the key event of the Food Systems summit in September. As for the recent European green light for the consumption of insects such as flour moths Vacondio observes : “orienting the use of noble proteins of insects, crickets, it may work in certain countries but not in Italy, it makes me smile, I find it a provocation. We have our noble proteins and they are milk and meat , just don’t abuse it. ” ‘We are ready to move forward on sustainability and quantity reduction’ And again Vacondio is opposed to choices that come from above without taking into account the Italian reality. “I refuse to think that the United Nations can guide certain diets to make the world more sustainable – he adds – it is certain that the food industry must also do its part: we must reduce salts, sugars, fats and also re-discuss packaging. with single-dose anti-waste packs, but respect is needed for those who help keep the country on its feet as the food industry demonstrated during the pandemic “. “We have done a lot and we are ready to go a long way in terms of sustainability, we play an important game on the 2030 Agenda – explains Vacondio – we have reformulated 4,000 products, their packaging to satisfy the will of the consumer but it cannot be overturned. the concept that a product is bad, the wrong diets are bad, the problem is in the quantities. The logic must be the right quantities and correct lifestyles “.” I believe – he concludes – that we will have to defend our food because it bothers me that is demonized by others. If Norwegians want to eat salmon they did, but they must not attack the Mediterranean Diet, it being understood that “we must make sure that everything is more sustainable, in a slow process.” Attacks, which according to the president of Federalimentare, “they come from countries that have discovered that big business can be done behind food”.