An automatic search system on the web to discover usurpations, evocations and imitations of Italian PDO and PGI brands through artificial intelligence, to protect its quality agri-food heritage. This - we learn - is the objective of "Verifood", a joint research project between the Central Inspectorate for the Protection of Quality and the Repression of Fraud in Agri-Food Products (ICQRF), the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry and the Inter-University Science Centre. of security and crime of the Universities of Trento and Verona (CSSC).
The initiative, presented at Vinitaly by the ICQRF department head Felice Assenza and the CSSC scientific coordinator Roberto Flor, is based on the use of Artificial Intelligence supported by criminology, cognitive and legal sciences to create an innovative information system, the Verifood platform, which identifies and gather evidence on online fraud against geographical indications. The prototype is already at an advanced stage; over the next two years it will be calibrated and perfected. The project also involves cooperation between qualified public and private actors to create a network that optimizes synergies in monitoring and combating online fraud and raising public awareness of the importance of protecting Italian geographical indications.
Italy is the world leader in the sector, with 890 geographical indications, for a wealth of over 20 billion euros per year and 900 thousand workers involved. In recent years, fraud on the web has grown sharply, especially through usurpation, evocation and imitation. The ICQRF, which carries out 6,000 online checks per year, has already removed over 4,000 irregular advertisements of products with geographical indications from e-commerce sites and marketplaces.