Aquaculture facility in La Spezia, Italy.
Photo: Adobe Stock
Italy has recently updated its national sustainable aquaculture certification rules, with the changes designed to give certified producers greater commercial visibility and strengthen the recognition of Italian farmed fish products.
The revised production specifications for Italy’s national livestock quality system, the "SQNZ" Sistema di Qualità Nazionale Zootecnia's “Sustainable Aquaculture” scheme were approved by Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry through a decree dated 11 May 2026, published in the country's Official Gazette on 19 May.
Italian fish farming association, Associazione Piscicoltori Italiani (API), welcomed the new rules, saying the update includes several changes considered important for the development of certified Italian aquaculture, including greater scope for companies to promote their participation in the national quality system.
One of the key changes is the removal of a previous restriction relating to the exclusive use of the SQNZ logo. API said this will allow certified companies that are members of Italian certification body Consorzio Sigillo Italiano to make more effective use of a broader certification mark by different food production sectors recognised by the Ministry. The change aims to improve recognition of certified products among consumers, retailers, and the wider market, API said.
Within the Consorzio Sigillo Italiano system, API acts as the lead supply chain organisation for certified sustainable aquaculture, coordinating certified production and the use of the brand across the national aquaculture supply chain.
“The update to the specifications represents an important achievement for the entire certified Italian aquaculture supply chain. This change now allows certified companies to better communicate their value to the market and to consumers,” said Matteo Leonardi, president of API and vice-president of Consorzio Sigillo Italiano.
Leonardi also renewed the API's calls for greater transparency in Italy’s restaurant and foodservice sector, particularly around the traceability of meat and fish served outside the home.
The API president also urged Italy's Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida to introduce clearer tools to provide consumers with more complete information on the origin of products served in public establishments.
API said the issue was also raised during the recent national event “Pesce Italiano: Identità, Trasparenza, Mercato” (Italian Fish: Identity, Transparency, Market), where Italian fisheries and aquaculture associations highlighted the need for clearer consumer information on products eaten away from home.
The revised specifications also introduce changes to technical requirements regarding environmental sustainability, traceability, and farm management, including stronger measures on assessing the environmental impact of production, in addition to reducing emissions and implementing progressive environmental improvement plans.
The update also strengthens requirements covering non-GMO feed controls, environmental parameter recording, farm documentation, and transparency over product origin.
API argues the changes reinforce the reliability of Italy’s national certification system and support a more structured role for aquaculture within the country’s agri-food sector.
The association said the update to the rules "confirms an increasingly structured vision for Italian aquaculture, which is to be considered a stable and strategic component of the national agri-food system, capable of combining food security, innovation, environmental sustainability and the competitive promotion of Made in Italy.”