Pet food: seizures totalling 1.7 million

To combat fraud, protect animal health and ensure consumer safety. With these objectives in mind, the Carabinieri Command for Health Protection, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, has concluded the national campaign to monitor the sale – including via the internet and social media – of pet food. The operation, carried out from 23 March to 30 June 2026, covered the whole of Italy and involved the Anti-Adulteration and Health Units (NAS) in a targeted monitoring operation of the pet food sector, with particular attention paid to online sales, product labelling, the traceability of raw materials, the hygiene and health standards of production facilities, and the validity of the authorisations required by current legislation.

The operation led to 275 inspections being carried out, of which 58 revealed irregularities, amounting to approximately 21 per cent of the checks carried out. In total: 56 individuals were reported to the administrative and health authorities; 4 criminal offences were established, mainly relating to commercial fraud and document forgery; 88 administrative offences were charged; and substantial administrative fines totalling 129,773 euros were imposed. As a precautionary measure, the following actions were also taken: over 60,800 kilograms of pet food were seized; 200,790 packs of pet food were placed under seizure; 15 veterinary medicines were also seized; and 2 production facilities were suspended due to serious hygiene, structural and regulatory deficiencies.

The total economic value of the seizures and suspended operations amounts to approximately 1.7 million euros, of which over 934,000 euros relates to the seized goods and approximately 700,000 euros to the facilities affected by the suspension orders.

The inspections revealed widespread issues throughout the sector’s production and supply chain. The most common infringements concerned: 32 cases of irregularities in the labelling of animal feed; 17 infringements relating to hygiene and structural shortcomings and failure to comply with self-monitoring procedures; 15 breaches concerning failure to notify the competent authorities, hygiene shortcomings and self-monitoring procedures; numerous irregularities in the management of animal by-products (ABPs) and in the related processing procedures; 4 incidents attributable to food fraud and falsification; 3 breaches concerning the identification of pet animals.