Increased local controls, greater prevention capacity, and increasingly structured collaboration between institutions, health authorities, and law enforcement. The Marche Regional Council has approved guidelines for Local Health Authorities to strengthen the surveillance activities envisaged as part of Operation "Marche Sicure ," with the aim of protecting citizens' health, ensuring food safety, and combating illegality, irregularities, and unfair competition.
The measure aims to consolidate the regional prevention system through uniform and coordinated planning across all provinces of the Marche region. Control activities must be organized according to shared criteria, avoiding operational differences between regions and ensuring consistent standards of public health protection.
Coordinated checks throughout the Marche region
The Region's intervention aims to make surveillance activities already required by national and regional legislation more effective and effective. The goal is to develop a model in which controls are not solely entrusted to individual local interventions or initiatives, but are part of a comprehensive strategy based on prevention, information sharing, and the identification of the most at-risk situations.
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Local health authorities will therefore be required to plan inspections, taking into account the characteristics of the different areas, existing economic activities, critical issues identified during previous inspections, and any health or epidemiological phenomena detected. Planning must allow resources to be focused on the sectors most likely to experience violations or have consequences for public health.
The regional table for institutional collaboration is born
The same measure establishes a regional committee dedicated to strengthening collaboration among all public bodies involved in prevention, surveillance, and control activities. The new structure will be responsible for facilitating operational discussions, improving the flow of information, and coordinating interventions across the various sectors involved.
In addition to representatives of the Marche Region, the meeting will include local health authorities, the Regional Health Agency, prefectures, law enforcement agencies, municipalities, the National Association of Italian Municipalities, one-stop shops for productive activities, local police forces, and other competent public bodies.
Collaboration will take place in accordance with the powers and responsibilities established for each administration. The working group will therefore not replace the expertise of individual bodies, but will facilitate coordination, especially in cases where inspections require the simultaneous involvement of health, administrative, and public safety authorities.
Acquaroli: "Safety also means protecting health."
The President of the Marche Region, Francesco Acquaroli , emphasized that the concept of security cannot be limited solely to protecting cities and combating crime. Community protection, according to the president, also includes the quality of production, food safety, and the defense of citizens from behaviors that could jeopardize the health and well-being of the community.
"Safety doesn't just mean protecting the territory, but also safeguarding health, quality production, and protecting citizens from any form of illegality that could jeopardize the well-being of the community," Acquaroli stated.
The President explained that the measure amends a system of controls already established by law, making it more coordinated, uniform, and effective across the entire region. The stated goal is to ensure high standards of prevention for the citizens of the Marche region, while simultaneously supporting businesses that comply with the regulations.
The fight against unfair competition
Strengthening controls will also have a significant economic impact. Irregularities in health, food, trade, or labor matters can lead to unfair competition, detrimental to businesses that invest resources to comply with legal obligations.
According to the Region, supervisory action must therefore protect not only consumers, but also legitimate operators. A company that fails to comply with health and hygiene regulations, fails to ensure worker safety, or uses non-compliant procedures can artificially reduce its costs, gaining an unfair competitive advantage over businesses operating legally.
"We want to guarantee the people of Marche high standards of prevention and safety, while also supporting businesses that operate in compliance with the rules and combating those who distort the market through unfair behavior," added Acquaroli.
A new piece of Operation "Marche Sicure"
The measure is part of the broader "Marche Sicure" operation, a regional program aimed at increasing safety through ongoing collaboration between institutions, local authorities, health authorities, and regulatory bodies.
For the Region, this represents a further step in building a model capable of addressing various aspects of daily life, from urban safety to public health, from consumer protection to environmental quality and food production.
"This is another step in Operation 'Marche Sicure,' which aims to build an increasingly safe region in every respect, through collaboration between all the institutions involved," the president concluded.
Scheduled checks through risk analysis
A central role will be assigned to the Local Health Authorities, which will be responsible for planning and strengthening inspection activities according to uniform application criteria. Inspections will not be organized randomly, but based on risk analysis and a thorough evaluation of available information.
Factors to be considered will include the results of inspections already conducted, any violations found, epidemiological evidence, reports received, and the priorities established by regional planning. This will allow inspections to be targeted at the businesses and facilities most likely to experience critical issues.
"The Local Health Authorities will be required to plan and strengthen control activities according to uniform application criteria, based on risk analysis, the results of previous controls, epidemiological evidence, and priorities identified at the regional level," explained Health Councilor Paolo Calcinaro.
Food safety along the entire supply chain
One of the main areas of intervention will be food safety. Controls will cover the entire supply chain, from raw material production to processing, from storage to distribution, and finally to the sale and serving of food.
Surveillance activities may include agricultural businesses, livestock farms, processing plants, food processing plants, warehouses, markets, commercial establishments, restaurants, bars, canteens, and accommodation facilities. Particular attention will be paid to compliance with hygiene standards, proper product storage, traceability, and the management of potentially allergenic substances.
The system must allow for the timely identification of any non-compliant products, contamination, fraud, or irregularities that could pose a risk to consumers.
More safety checks in the workplace
The guidelines approved by the regional council also include strengthening prevention in the workplace. The activities of the Local Health Authorities will focus on compliance with worker protection regulations, assessing occupational risks, and adopting the necessary measures to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses.
Inspections may focus on the sectors considered most exposed, taking into account recorded incidents, reports, and the characteristics of individual production activities. The goal is to intervene before serious events occur, through targeted inspections, information campaigns, and the possible adoption of measures required by law.
Veterinary health and livestock protection
The regional plan will also significantly involve veterinary public health. Activities will focus on animal health and welfare, the prevention of communicable diseases, the safety of food of animal origin, and the proper management of livestock farms.
Veterinary monitoring is closely linked to the protection of human health, especially in the presence of diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. For this reason, collaboration between veterinary services, health authorities, and other control bodies will be essential to quickly identify any outbreaks or emerging phenomena.
The checks may also concern animal transport, breeding conditions, the administration of veterinary medicines, and compliance with the provisions for slaughter and meat processing.
Attention to accommodation and social assistance facilities
Among the strategic areas identified by the Region are hospitality and social care facilities. Hotels, campsites, retirement homes, communities, and services for vulnerable individuals must ensure compliance with the required hygiene, health, and organizational standards.
In social care facilities, checks are particularly important due to the presence of elderly, disabled, or vulnerable individuals. Audits may include environmental quality, food management, care procedures, and compliance with structural and organizational requirements.
The goal will be to ensure that services are provided under adequate conditions, preventing risky situations and intervening promptly in the event of deficiencies or irregularities.
Water quality and health alert management
The prevention system will also address water quality, including that intended for human consumption and that used for recreational or production purposes. Monitoring will ensure compliance with regulatory parameters and rapidly identify any contamination.
A significant part of the program will also involve managing health alerts. In the event of contaminated food, infectious diseases, environmental problems, or other potentially dangerous situations, rapid and coordinated procedures will be required.
Sharing information between the Region, Local Health Authorities, Municipalities, Prefectures, and Law Enforcement agencies should reduce response times and enable uniform measures to be adopted across different regions.
Integration with regional prevention plans
The provision does not introduce a separate system from the existing tools, but integrates the activities envisaged by the Regional Prevention Plan and the Multi-Year Regional Control Plan.
These documents define objectives, priorities, and operating methods in the areas of food safety, public health, prevention in living and working environments, veterinary health, and public health protection.
The new guidelines will allow for a better connection between healthcare planning and the operational needs emerging in the regions, promoting greater uniformity of checks and a more precise evaluation of the results achieved.
Monitoring emerging phenomena
Particular attention will be paid to emerging phenomena, which can rapidly alter the health risk landscape and require specific interventions. New dietary habits, climate change, infectious diseases, transformations in production systems, and the development of new commercial activities can lead to critical issues that are not always foreseen by ordinary planning.
The regional system must be able to update its priorities based on collected data and reports from local services. Continuous analysis of this information will allow us to identify any trends and implement targeted controls before problems become more significant.
Coordination of the Regional Health Agency
The Regional Health Agency will be responsible for technical coordination of the guidelines approved by the council. The agency will support the local health authorities in applying the common criteria and verify the level of implementation of the planned activities.
The Agency will also ensure monitoring of results and periodic reporting of the checks performed. The data collected will allow the Region to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions undertaken, identify any difficulties, and make adjustments to the program.
The reporting will also represent a useful tool for verifying the distribution of checks across the territory, the number and type of irregularities found and the sectors in which it will be necessary to further strengthen supervision.
A system oriented towards continuous improvement
The model approved by the Marche Region will not be limited to inspections, but will also focus on continuously improving the entire prevention system. The information gathered during the inspections will be used to update priorities, refine risk analysis, and improve resource efficiency.
Collaboration between institutions will also help avoid overlaps, organize joint interventions, and address more complex situations in a coordinated manner. Greater integration could prove crucial, especially in cases involving healthcare, administrative, environmental, and public safety aspects.
With the approval of the new guidelines, the Region aims to strengthen a safety net capable of protecting citizens, workers, and consumers, while also ensuring more transparent market conditions for businesses that comply with the rules.
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