Spain has been ignoring dozens of products that it sells daily in its supermarkets for decades. But that just ended

You may have read or heard it somewhere: “goodbye to turkey ham and stuffed olives.” And what a joke, can you imagine a world without anchovy-flavored olives? Having to live only on ham or chicken breast? Luckily, you don’t have to imagine it. They don’t disappear.

What the Royal Decree does has unleashed All this controversy is something a little more complicated: putting in order the enormous food mess that has been growing for decades in Spanish pantries.

What food mess? On February 27 Royal Decree 142/2026 was published that seeks to modify (or repeal) more than a dozen food quality provisions. It seems somewhat minor, but some of which (such as the cookie regulations) are more than 40 years old.

The interesting thing, however, is that this new legislation removes from legal limbo numerous products that have not been ‘thought of’ at a regulatory level for many years. In that sense, the decree affects dozens of daily consumer products, but it does not affect them in the sense that ‘they are going to change’: it affects them in the sense that now the rules are going to be clearer.

The case of turkey ham and stuffed olives are paradigmatic: the former now has a clear definition and the latter will have the obligation to specify the characteristics of the filling.

But what is interesting is not what is important. The important thing, clearly, is the inclusion of gluten-free bread in the bread quality standard. Not only is it a historic demand of the celiac community, but it closes a very tough debate at a regulatory and fiscal level.

Until now, at a technical level, the standard did not contemplate that bread made with gluten-free flour could be called bread. This ‘nonsense’ made celiacs They will pay more VAT than they would pay on normal breadbut it’s already over.

Something similar happened with horchata without added sugar, the clarification of cider, the types of sangria or the acidity of vinegars.

What does disappear. The bologna mortadellawhich until now was a category and which will now have to be called something else to avoid confusion with the designation of origin of the true Bologna mortadella.

The central issue is that the agri-food industry has changed a lot. And as usual, the legislation has been dragging its feet, generating piecemeal regulations and creating completely inexplicable holes.

So yes, we have taken a step forward. And without having to give up even the turkey ham and stuffed olives.

Image | Xavi Cabrera

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