Pasta Made in Italy, but with foreign wheat
Are you sure that the Made in Italy pasta you eat, really is Made in Italy? That’s where the deception is hidden in the pot and how to recognize it.
We often see Made in Italy pasta on supermarket shelves, but are we sure it is a true 100% “Made in Italy”?
Let’s start with facts.
Did you know that in Italy 40% of wheat to produce pasta is imported from abroad?
It is a worrying fact considering that our country is the FIRST WORLD MANUFACTURER of durum wheat.
Despite this, we have in Italy a crisis on this product, among the Made in Italy excellence.
This is because is more convenient to import it than to buy the local one.
But how much do we know about foreign wheat?
We start immediately from the crisis of durum wheat in Italy.
What does “wheat crisis” mean in Italy and how does it affect Made in Italy pasta?
First of all we must say that if there is a crisis for a product in any kind of business – in this case durum wheat – it means that some time before that, same product, worked well and produced wealth.
I remind you that we are the first producers of durum wheat in the world.
However, for many years this cultivation of excellence, especially in the south, has been abandoned.
Why?
It all started with globalization, which started importing foreign durum wheat into our country.
The question is:
“Why do we import wheat from abroad, blindly accepting their products of industrial agriculture when we are the first in terms of quality and quantity of production in the entire world?”
The answer is easily understandable: for money
Attention to this passage:
The durum wheat we import from all over the world (including the United States and Canada),
destined for Italian food industries,
has a lower price than that of our farms.
In fact, a farm in central and southern Italy has a production cost of around € 22 per quintal of local wheat.
Do you know how much foreign wheat is paid on average?
Around € 18/20 per quintal!
You will tell me…
“How is it possible that a grain of wheat that travels for THOUSANDS of kilometers costs LESS than the Italian one ?!”
The answer is simple:
1. the quality of Italian wheat is the best in the world
2. the current regulations that regulate the cultivation of durum wheat in our country are the most restrictive in the world
3. since 2014 the duties for importing durum wheat from abroad have been abolished, thus favoring foreign competitors
Making excellent Italian durum wheat (Triticum durum) costs more in cash … but much less healthy.
SEEDS IN ITALY CAN NOT BE TREATED WITH THE “FAMOUS” GLYPHOSATE, ON THE CONTRARY OF OTHER NATIONS THAT EXPORT TO OUR COUNTRY.
The Italian farmers must respect scrupulous production regulations.
But all the wheat that is imported into our country from half the world is NOT subject to our same safety standards.
When we shop or buy a product, we have a duty to ask:
Where is this product from?
Because if we do not, the risk is for our own health.
Pesticides, heavy metals and other chemical compounds are very differently regulated abroad.
We think about our children when we choose a product, their well-being is even more at risk than ours!
The advice I can give you is not to choose based on price, never.
Because behind the price in euros is hiding a price on our health, certainly not indicated.
The poisons inside the wheat imported and transformed into pasta Made in Italy
Foreign wheat is not like the Italian one.
In particular, there are 2 completely different things compared to our country:
- The checks,
- Regulations concerning crops.
What is most striking is the interpretation given by the institutions of these countries regarding some products even BANNED in our country.
One of these is glyphosate.
A field sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, and other toxic substances for human health
Glyphosate in Made in Italy pasta
A substance used as a herbicide, the most used in the world.
In 2015, the IARC, the international cancer research agency, which is part of the World Health Organization, added it to the list of “probably carcinogenic” substances (group 2A).
In Italy its use is prohibited.
In the European Union it is allowed (in December 2017 they renewed the authorization to use it, ignoring the concerns of the doctors).
In the rest of the world it is legally used.
You have certainly understood the problem is complex, but you must act immediately.
Made in Italy wheat is a product of excellence, linked to the territory that produces it…
…where quality is a plus.
At the same level as the wine terroir.
But there is another important question to be underline.
I ask you a question:
The pasta MADE IN ITALY, must be produced with Italian raw materials, or enough that it is produced in Italy, perhaps with foreign semolina and eggs?
I will give my opinion in two points, and I sincerely believe that you too will agree:
1 – A kind of pasta to be the MADE IN ITALY naming should be produced entirely in Italy.
2 – Italian raw materials are the best.
This means that we “pasta makers” have a moral obligation to:
- safeguard and enhance our agronomic knowledge
- reward our farms
Because – let’s remember – these companies contribute decisively to the well-being and wealth of our territory.
But for Italian law this is not the case.
There is very little clarity on what is really Pasta Made in Italy
THE ONLY CERTAINTY TO BUY A PASTA 100% MADE IN ITALY IS THE CLOSED AND CONTROLLED “FOOD FARMING – CHAIN”
At Pasta Santoni we knead only:
- 100% durum wheat from the Marche region
- eggs coming from our henhouse
A very short list of ingredients.
To give you with confidence a really Italian pasta.
Our durum wheat that gives us a Italian semolina, 100% from Marche region
You can see our “food farming-chain” on our website and behind every package of pasta you buy, to give you all the confidence that an Italian consumer deserves.
