Professional Pasta N.1 2022

T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L M A G A Z I N E F O R PA S TA P R O D U C E R S

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Unfair commercial practices and environmental claims

POSTE ITALIANE Spa - Spedizione in abbonamento postale - Aut. n. 1429/2020 del 7.08.2020 – Stampe periodiche in REGIME LIBERO

About the National Pasta Association Annual Meeting

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N. 1 January / March 2022

Avenue media

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Year XXVII

Avenue media

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Chairman Claudio Vercellone

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Year XXVII - N. 1 January / March 2022 Editor in Chief Claudio Vercellone Scientific and technical committee Maurizio Monti Wheat and flours technician Roberto Tuberosa Agricultural Genetics Editing Lorenzo Bellei Mussini ufficiostampa@avenue-media.eu Advertising Massimo Carpanelli carpa@avenue-media.eu Edition, management, editorial, advertising and administration Avenue media Srl Viale Antonio Aldini, 222/4 40136 Bologna (Italy) avenuemedia@avenue-media.eu www.avenuemedia.eu Subscriptions office abbonamenti@avenue-media.eu Subscription Ue countries € 45.00 Outside Ue € 60.00 Back issues (if available): € 15.00 each plus postage Print MIG - Moderna Industrie Grafiche Srl Via dei Fornaciai, 4 - Bologna (Italy) Registration N. 7875 of 9/9/2008 Court of Bologna All coprights belong to Avenue media Srl May not be used without permission Responsibility of the advertisements belongs to the firms Personal data processing in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679.

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Sustainability, innovation and efficiency

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by Enrica Gentile

FEATURES INTERVIEW

Digital transparency solutions for the agri-food sector

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by Alessandro Massacesi

OVERVIEW

About the 2022 NPA Annual Meeting

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by the Editorial Staff

FOOD LAW

Unfair competition and environmental claims

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by Giuseppe Maria Durazzo

DEPARTMENTS

Facts & news Events Supplier news Historical news

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EDITORIAL

Sustainability, innovation and efficiency

by Enrica Gentile CEO & Co-Founder of Areté, The Agri-food Intelligence Company

The food supply chain is called upon to support and give its contribution for more effective production processes

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he year 2021 ended with the results of COP26, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, whose results - very disappointing for some and very challenging for others - further stated what has been clear for some time, at least in Italy and Europe: the fight against climate change and the long-term sustainability of production activities are and will be at the heart of the strategic priorities of international institutions and national

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governments in the years to come.

The EU, for its part, had already sent out a strong signal in this direction with the presentation of the European Green Deal, setting extremely challenging goals up to 2050, some of which are focused on the agri-food supply chain and agriculture in particular.

In this scenario, agriculture continues to be seen as one of the production activities with the greatest impact, which will be asked to make greater efforts accordingly and to set particularly

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ambitious targets in terms of input reduction and process efficiency.

The whole food chain - industry and distribution in the first place will be impacted by the resulting changes and will be called upon to support and give its contribution to monitor this path.

For companies in this sector, the path is traced and staying out of it is not an option. It will be the role of industry leaders to lead the way, within the framework defined by relevant regulations, guiding the other players in the supply chain and studying and taking charge of the mechanisms that are useful for monitoring its implementation at all levels. New technologies and data revolution are able to provide the tools needed to choose and implement targeted solutions, real-time monitoring of almost all processes, from the agricultural phase to large-scale distribution shelves. Smart farming to guide and monitor farming operations, food-tech and IoT for data detection and transmission to all other levels of the supply chain, Business Intelligence and Artificial

Intelligence applications for the reading and exploitation of the same data from a predictive perspective, up to BlockChain systems to lock, guarantee and share collected information with the whole supply chain. The impact of this mix of technologies on the organization of supply chains, on their efficiency, and ultimately on their environmental and economic sustainability, is potentially huge, all the more so if we consider that companies’ penetration rates of most of these tools are still very limited.

On the other hand, the recipe is not the same for everyone, which is one of the biggest challenges.

The path towards sustainability, if designed to be solid, long-lasting and "sustainable" for each company, cannot be unique. It must be developed according to the supply chain, the company, its reference market, its positioning, the requirements and expectations of its stakeholders, its supply and sales chain, its processes and its technological choices. It is necessary to start from an analysis,

then set out a plan with at least medium-term goals and transfer it into a short-term program, with selected technology, processes and monitoring tools that respond to the structure, needs and possibilities of the company.

Each action has to be thought of supply chain by supply chain Only after all this, certifications, labels and, of course, sustainability reports and budgets make sense in order to give an account of what is being done and to describe to the outside world the improvement process that is underway as well as the goals achieved and set for the future.

Environmental impact analysis, environmental impact certification tools - EPD, Carbon Footprint, PEF and many others - compensation for these impacts - carbon credits, agricultural projects to absorb CO2 and others, reporting tools sustainability reports, first and foremost - then become the wellchosen pieces of a clear strategy and a project defined and tailored to the company's situation. These pieces play a fundamental role; not only they certify to third parties that the company is sensitive to sustainability issues and is committed to interpreting and managing them, but also and above all they turn the company from an entity that simply reacts to the requests of a few customers by aligning itself with them, into an informed, aware and proactive entity, a leading player that has designed an appropriate and far-sighted path for sustainable improvement and is responsible for it on a daily basis.

Enrica Gentile

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January / March 2022

FACTS & NEWS

Novelties from Barilla On its 145 anniversary, Barilla presents some important novelties. First of all, its logo will still be a red oval but without its white component, while the colour will be more intense, as intense as the blue background; it will be more characterised in order to give more tone to the brand. The other novelty concerns the introduction on the market of a line of bronze-drawn pasta, amber-yellow coloured and capable of better retaining the sauce.

Another technological innovation is the removal of the transparent plastic window on the box of the classic Barilla range. The new packaging, which is completely recyclable and made of cardboard from responsibly managed forests, will be available in Italy from the second half of 2022. th

Bakery: Clean Label products on the rise Consumers are more aware than ever of the importance of food in maintaining their health. This trend is not new, but with the pandemic it has gained further momentum.

Therefore, more consumers are choosing gluten-free products and not only for medical reasons, while the bakery industry is innovating by providing natural, healthy and especially good products. The positive trend is confirmed by the Clean Label Ingredient Market report, according to which the global market of clean label ingredients will grow at 6.76% CAGR between 2022 and 2026, with Europe among the leading markets in the sector.

Fruclass, the task force to certify the quality of the supply chain is born A historic event for the durum wheat and pasta supply chain, which can now count on a system to control quality all the way from the field to the table. This production rating method is called Fruclass and aims at writing a new page in terms of pricing, with a positive trickledown effect on all players in the supply chain and consumers, thanks to the identification of shared and unbiased parameters for defining quality. This system was designed by the University of Tuscia on the initiative of the associations that signed the memorandum of understanding “Durum wheat-Quality Pasta Chain”: Alleanza Cooperative Agroalimentari, Assosementi, Cia-Agricoltori Italiani, Compag, Confagricoltura, Copagri, Italmopa and the pasta makers of Unione Italiana Food.

La Molisana’s solidarity campaign makes its debut On the 11th of February, La Molisana’s solidarity campaign in collaboration with SpesaSospesa.org started. In fact, the Italian pasta company decided to contribute to the project by directly involving its consumers: when buying two packages of Rigacuore, consumers will contribute, together with La Molisana, to support the SpesaSospesa.org project by donating a couple of meals.

This nationwide project will support the most economically disadvantaged families. During the whole period of the solidarity campaign, there will be online and in-shop activities, as well as in-shop initiatives.

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FACTS & NEWS

Presentation of “Nutrinform Battery”, the Italian alternative to “Nutri-Score” On Tuesday the 15th of February, the International Conference Hall of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the presentation of the nutritional labelling scheme “Nutrinform Battery”, proposed by Italy as an alternative to the traffic light method (Nutri-Score) in the framework of the negotiations on the harmonisation of the labelling system at EU level. The event, organised by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with Federalimentare, brought together representatives from diplomacy, politics, institutions, industry and the academic world.

The situation in Ukraine pushes cereal prices to the highest levels

Anselmo and Molitecnica Sud formalize their partnership

It is not only the price of gas that is alarming the world economy: the current situation in Ukraine causes a spike in cereal prices, which were already at their highest. The Italian industry does not structurally meet about two thirds (64%) of soft wheat needs and Ukraine is the third largest exporter of cereals globally, as well as the second largest supplier of maize to Italy (after Hungary) with a share of over 20% of such an essential raw material for the feed industry. Soft wheat supplies play a marginal role, accounting for 5% in volume and value of total national imports. However, the price spike comes on top of the transport blockade that has already brought to a halt mills and pasta factories in Central and Southern Italy, which have had to stop production due to a lack of raw materials.

Anselmo Group, based in northern Italy, and Molitecnica Sud, a company based in Apulia, have decided to develop a relationship of cooperation in order to achieve objectives that they could not achieve individually. The approach of successful companies such as Anselmo Group and Molitecnica Sud, is cooperation used to achieve a communion of means and capacity to accomplish various tasks and objectives. In this manner, encouraging longterm investment, information sharing and technological development can create a real business network.

Cooking pasta with the cooker switched off Experts predicted that the war would make gas price flare up, and so it has. The international markets for this essential raw material reached a staggering 60% in just one day. Now you can cook pasta with much less gas if you do it this way. Bring water to the boil with the lid closed; once the water boils, throw in the pasta and wait for it to come back to the boil. So far so normal. Once the water boils, put the lid back on and turn off the gas. With the lid closed and the gas turned off, the pasta will still cook and you will save a lot of precious natural gas. The trick is to calculate about one minute of cooking time (with the gas off) more than the time indicated on the package.

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INTERVIEW

Digital transparency solutions for the agri-food sector

by Alessandro Massacesi

Reconstructing the life cycle of a product guarantees the truthfulness of brand promises

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revolution is underway for consumer trends in the agri-food sector, with a larger selection, more and more accessible information and increasingly defined search for health and safety guarantees.

Buying food has now become a choice based on the willingness and desire of companies to be transparent and reliable in real time. In the past, a good television advertisement was enough to offer a sufficient sense of security to buy a packet of pasta, whereas today the market is asking producers to make a further effort. Connecting Food, a French company based in Paris and Milan, specialised in traceability and blockchain quality

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INTERVIEW

Stefano Volpi and Maxine Roper, co-founders of Connecting Food

control of food products, is well aware of this. Founded in 2016, it is based on the idea of Stefano Volpi and Maxine Roper, the two co-founders who have more than thirty years of experience in the agri-food sector. Today consumers are looking for products that are not just seen as safe, but they must also provide real-time interaction and transparency. An evolving relationship told by Alessandro Conti, who works in go-to-market and business development in Southern Europe (Italy and Spain) for Connecting Food.

What are the consumer trends at the moment?

Several studies show that when Italian consumers have to choose food products on the shelves, their first two needs are: food safety

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Alessandro Conti, Country Manager Italy for Connecting Food

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INTERVIEW

(66.5%) and health (59.1%). These two priorities result in great attention paid to the origin of ingredients and products: 31.7% of consumers define themselves as very attentive to the origin (+7% compared to the average of European Union countries). In addition to the origin, Italians also pay great attention to: greater transparency on packaging sustainability (24.9%), list of ingredients (23.6%), animal welfare (17.1%), respect for the human rights of the people who worked on its production (15.9%).

Furthermore, 83% of Italian consumers are willing to pay more for food products that show all the required information guaranteed by a third party. According to 57% of Italians, this information should be directly on the product. (Data source: Report dnv gl-2020, Packaging Insights-2019, Beaconstac-2021).

What is Connecting Food all about?

Connecting Food is a B2B food tech company that provides operators in the agri-food sector with digital transparency solutions so that consumers can regain trust in the products they buy. Our solution makes it possible to monitor the traceability of each product batch and to check its compliance with quality specifications, in real time. By means of a QR code on the product packaging, consumers can read this data, check their origin for themselves, as well as the production process and many other characteristics of the product in their hands.

underused or not used at all. By using this data, it is possible to reconstruct the specific life cycle of a product, from the parcel of land to the point of sale. This digital reconstruction of the life of a food product is commonly referred to as a digital passport or digital twin.

The digital twin thus makes it possible to reconnect the upstream part of the supply chain with the end consumer, guaranteeing the truthfulness of brand promises and re-establishing a relationship of trust between the company and the consumer.

Which elements play a key role in the market?

In this scenario, traceability is the leitmotiv that allows the different players in the supply chain to be interconnected. Moreover, we should bear in mind that traceability is a legislative requirement that is being strengthened by institutions such as the FDA or EFSA. As the Green Deal or the FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) show us, these bodies are pushing the agrifood industry towards enhanced traceability standards that require end-to-end traceability, i.e. from

the first to the last link in the chain. Nevertheless, consumers are demanding more and more transparency on the origin, healthiness and safety of a product. Companies need to react to these trends which are now significantly accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis. Those that will adapt most quickly to these changes will gain a considerable competitive advantage over their competitors.

Digital twin reconnects the upstream part of the supply chain with the end-consumer Why do you focus on blockchain and how important is the technology gap?

In this time of digital transition, technology makes it possible, through data, to easily reconstruct the traceability of products, by standardizing and centralizing supply chain information, which is usually

Consumer’s trust: how can you gain it?

Nowadays, one of the main drivers to reconnect consumers with producers, especially in multi-level supply chains, is data. Along supply chains there is a considerable amount of data that is often

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INTERVIEW

The team of Connecting Food

fragmented, disconnected, and located inside information systems that are unable to communicate with each other. On the other hand, blockchain, which is a complementary enabling technology to the solution developed by Connecting Food, makes this data permanent and unforgeable, thus guaranteeing the truthfulness of information associated with the product.

With traceability data companies go beyond promise marketing Are there any critical issues for pasta that companies need to pay attention to?

There are no particular critical issues in the world of pasta that prevent a blockchain traceability project from being launched. Data must be in digital format, whatever the format, then Connecting Food will take care of harmonizing information. However, even with data is in paper format, we have developed partnerships with

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companies that offer a digitization journey. If you like, the biggest problem we are faced with is the willingness of companies to engage in a journey that they do not necessarily see as a priority in the short term, although it will inevitably become a mandatory standard in the medium term.

Which are the pros and cons of traceability in your experience?

Traceability is a key ingredient to prove the origin and life cycle of a food product in a timely manner.

The Italian agri-food model is recognized as an excellence worldwide, but it is necessary to integrate this additional element in order to protect and enhance the quality of Made-in-Italy products, especially for export purposes. The protection and enhancement of Made-in-Italy products are certainly the main “pro” of traceability, as they make it possible to strengthen the competitiveness of Italian companies in the global market. As to the ‘cons’, this transition inevitably involves a data organization task that can be timeconsuming, and it is precisely for this reason that Connecting Food was founded: to help companies structure their data and Professional

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make them a source of added value, lowering operating costs and inefficiencies.

What information is most sensitive to consumers and what age groups?

Looking at the statistics of products with Connecting Food QR codes currently sold in supermarkets, the main areas of interest for consumers relate primarily to origin, safety and compliance with sustainability criteria (such as water consumption or CO2 during the process), but also

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this concept of blind trust. In fact, thanks to traceability, companies can show, in a concrete manner, the commitments they claim to make by bringing tangible evidence directly into the hands of consumers.

compliance with practices such as animal welfare or responsible farming. We currently see more and more attention being paid to these aspects and we anticipate that the discriminating factor in purchasing a product will no longer be focused mainly on price, but on the actual compliance with the above-mentioned commitments. This trend is particularly strong when it comes to younger consumers.

How can the use of traceability be enhanced in marketing?

A revolution is taking place in the way marketing activities are carried out in the European food sector. With Connecting Food we

are working to establish an innovative marketing approach, which we call evidence-based marketing (or data-driven marketing), as opposed to promise marketing, which is the marketing model adopted in the 20th century based on consumers’ blind trust in brand promises.

Unlike in the past, today technology allows us to overcome

The goal is to make data the source of added value

What does your Digital Audit consist of and why is it an advantage?

Connecting Food considers end-toend traceability as the backbone of a long-term transparency journey.

And Liveaudit® - our proprietary digital quality control module represents the next stage in traceability in the form of a fully digitized information verification module. This module makes it possible to verify that each product batch is compliant with the associated quality criteria and that it really does comply with specification requirements. Should a non-conformity be detected, the Connecting Food platform sends a real-time alert that makes it possible to take action exactly when the error occurs. Thanks to Liveaudit®, non-compliant batches can be redirected to other supply chains where the detected noncompliance is not binding, thus reducing product recalls and/or food scandals. Digital auditing also makes it possible to replace inhouse manual inspection processes, thus reducing operational costs and human mistakes.

And for consumers?

Thanks to Liveaudit®, companies can prove to consumers that every product that has gone through the supply chain and has arrived on the supermarket shelf meets the quality criteria associated with each step in the production chain. This is such a strong guarantee, supported by technology like the blockchain, which makes it possible to ensure that information will not be altered and no fraud will occur.

Alessandro Massacesi

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OVERVIEW

About the 2022 NPA Annual Meeting by the Editorial Staff

A snapshot of the pasta industry and the prospects for a sector that is increasingly consistent with the needs of the planet.

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hen looking at the history and aims of the National Pasta Association (NPA), one of its goals is to encourage pasta consumption through its activities. However, this encouragement is only part of a much bigger project that includes the promotion of a healthy public policy not only for consumers, but also for companies and operators, since a sustainable pasta industry is also vital for a healthy diet. Why is eating pasta so important then?

What are the implications for the health of humans and the planet as we talk more and more about sustainability?

The current scenario from which the Meeting starts Based on these recurring questions, the Meeting of the National Pasta Association, the important international appointment that was held in Naples, Florida, at the beginning of March (from Sunday 6 to Tuesday 9), brought together the operators of the pasta production sector, to discuss in depth the condition of the pasta industry and everything that revolves around it, especially in view of the

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devastating effects of the pandemic on the sector. The common thread running through the numerous initiatives and conferences is the need to develop new industrial models that in turn take on board the great lesson of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouts: “Try to leave the world better than you found it”.

At the same time, the alarmed cries about the need to restart at all costs, as well as channelling what Marx called the “fury of private interest”, are not only the clear expression of a modus operandi that has fallen victim to a “loss of meaning related to the way in which economic relations have replaced social relations”, but they are also a sad sign of the primacy of values for our economy that has now swallowed

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2022 NPA Annual Meeting aims at fulfilling the hopes contained in the history of pasta up every other aspect of life, including respect for the dignity of human life.

This is why it is necessary to start again from those values that pasta implies, as it is a product of wheat, or rather of the ear of wheat, the Shibboleth, a symbol of abundance that also refers to plant passions, showing a central core of death-rebirth and foodawareness, typical of the symbols linked to the food cycle.

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OVERVIEW

Erika Thiem, Feeding America Global Supply Chain Executive

Topics addressed The three-day Meeting opened with the institutional sessions, such as the meeting of the Durum Wheat Development Committee, the meeting of the Government Affairs Committee as well as the meeting of the Board of Directors. The topics was coming into full swing on Monday, with a welcome address and a report on the state of the industry by Carl Zuanelli, NPA Board of Directors Chair and President and CEO of Nuovo Pasta Productions, Ltd. Equally interesting was the talk

It is necessary to start again from the values that pasta implies “The Three P’s: Pandemic, Pasta and Partnering on Food Insecurity” by Erika Thiem, a leading supply chain representative who recently joined Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organisation in the U.S. Diversity, equity and inclusiveness are key words that should belong to a renewed semantic field of the word

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‘food’: if food insecurity has accelerated with the pandemic, safety conditions can only be guaranteed by adequate food production and handling practices. The economic situation in 2022, with a potential light at the end of the tunnel, was the topic of the afternoon session: the report by Christopher Kuehl (PhD), managing director of Armada Corporate Intelligence, details the elements that should characterise the economy in the current year, even with all the possible variations, such as the recent war between Russia and Ukraine. The final day of the Meeting was focused on the outlook and trends for pasta after Covid-19 in the US. In a talk by Todd Hale, former Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights at Nielsen, the speaker shares his insights into retail trends and innovation, as well as consumer purchases and attitudes, in order to provide manufacturers and retailers with a strategic view to facilitate the growth of the brand, category and retail sales. This was followed by a lecture on the world & US durum wheat situation, by Jim Peterson, the North Dakota Wheat Commission’s Policy and Marketing director, then another one on the 2022 World & U.S.

Carl Zuanelli, NPA Board of Directors Chair

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Durum Situation, Legislative & Regulatory Update, by Gary Kushner, NPA Legal Counsel.

As is the tradition of the National Pasta Association, the papers presented during the Meeting ensure the transmission of relevant things that revolve around pasta. Pasta is perhaps the most famous food in the world, which nevertheless hides in its development the best contamination of cultures, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and sustainability. The word ‘pasta’ is ever-present in all political and industrial scenarios, but also in the more general field of physical and mental health: making pasta, remembering the history of pasta, telling its story is like preparing a harvest, or rather

Diversity, equity and inclusiveness are key words for a new diet a barn, a precious heritage for the current and very harsh postpandemic winter. The NPA meeting is not about reliving the past of a product that is the result of man’s work with the land, but about selecting the most significant and useful moments for the world community.

These events try to give breath to new and stronger social tensions that had essentially fallen asleep.

The highest meaning of the 2022 NPA Annual Meeting lies in the fact that it is not just about preserving the past of pasta, but primarily about fulfilling its hopes. The only way to promote a product like this is innovation, i.e. trying to inject the memory and current needs into a renewed circuit of ideas and thoughts.

The Editorial Staff

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FOOD LAW

Unfair competition and environmental claims

by Giuseppe Maria Durazzo Lawyer expert in Food Law

How to overcome the lack of specific rules on environmental claims

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ithin the massive Communication from the EU Commission entitled “Guidance on the interpretation and application of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on unfair business-toconsumer commercial practices in the internal market” (2021/C 526/01) which aims at helping interpret and apply the rules on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices, mainly Directive 2005/29/EC, transposed in Italy by Legislative Decree No. 146/2007 and EU Directive 2019/2161, there is a chapter dealing with the relationship between unfair commercial practices and environmental claims.

A significant part of this massive Communication is devoted to digital services and to the large

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number of topics related to misleading actions, sometimes with criminal implications in several countries, as well as misleading omissions, aggressive commercial practices and environmental claims intertwined with the information obligations we have discussed so much in recent months.

What rules for environmental claims?

As to “environmental claims” or “environmental statements”, the Communication says: “The Directive does not contain specific provisions on environmental claims, but it provides a legal basis to ensure that traders do not make environmental claims in a way that is unfair to consumers. It does not prohibit the use of ‘green claims’, as long as they are not unfair”.

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In short, the Commission certifies the absence of specific rules on environmental claims, although it does bring them within the scope of the general obligations of fairness. It also states that environmental statements must be truthful, must not contain false information and must be presented in a clear, specific, accurate and unambiguous manner so as not to mislead consumers.

Environmental claims fall under the general obligations of fairness As to deceptiveness, it also states that: “Environmental claims may be misleading if they consist of

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vague and general statements of environmental benefits without adequate proof of those benefits and without any indication of the relevant aspect of the product to which the claim relates.

Examples of such claims are: “environmentally friendly”, “ecocompatible”, “eco”, “green”, “nature-friendly”, “ecological”, “environmentally safe”, “climate change friendly”, “low impact on the environment”, “pollutant free”, “biodegradable”, “zeroemission”, “carbon-conscious”, “low carbon”, “carbon-neutral”, “climate neutral”, as well as broader statements such as “conscious” and “responsible”.

The “greenwashing” When such claims are untrue or cannot be verified - says the Communication - the practice is referred to as “greenwashing”, or misappropriation of environmental virtues to create a “green” image. The results are vague, exaggerated, false or misleading, and therefore unfair, statements.

The Communication contains few examples concerning misleading information that are food-related: “Presenting crockery containing bamboo as a sustainable, recyclable and environmentally friendly alternative to plastics, when such products are in fact a combination

Even unverifiable claims are considered as “greenwashing” of plastic, bamboo (sometimes bamboo powder) and melamine and formaldehyde resin, necessary to produce various shapes (plates, bowls ecc.) and degrees of rigidity”.

And a second example: “An expert advertised the sale of bags of sweets, stating that for each bag sold he would plant a tree.

However, he had already decided to plant a certain number of trees, regardless of the bags of sweets sold. A national court upheld the competent ombudsman's action, stating that such a claim qualified as misleading advertising that exploited the naivety of environmentally sensitive consumers”.

Protecting consumers According to the Communication, private environmental labelling systems, symbols or certificates are allowed, but they are subject to the

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FOOD LAW

general information rules. Once again, asterisks and various references are approved, but not unconditionally, since in some cases the national authority has found the message to be misleading.

The Communication confirms that it is the responsibility of the company to prove the truthfulness of its claims. It mentions the wellknown case of a mineral water company which presented its products with a “zero impact” statement, indicating that water bottles production and sale had no impact on the environment.

However, the company could not prove that it was carrying out specific activities to reduce the environmental impact of its products, except for taking part in a project to compensate for environmental damage.

There is currently no common European legislation On this basis, the national consumer protection authority concluded that the “zero impact” campaign was an unfair commercial practice that could affect consumers’ buying decisions. Comparing products in terms of environmental quality is an interesting aspect that is bound to become all the more a battleground, on which, however,

the Commission can do no more than refer to well-known general principles of fairness. It should be recalled that “remedies” (as defined in Article-11 bis of Directive 2005/29/EC, as amended

by EU Directive 2019/2161) in favour of consumers also apply to unfair environmental statements, i.e. the access to proportionate and effective remedies, in particular compensation for damage and, whenever relevant, price reduction and contract termination. Punitive measures for businesses provide for sanctions of up to 4% of annual turnover in the State concerned and if the turnover is not known, the maximum amount is two million euros.

Some countries have already introduced “remedies”: France with Ordonnance n° 2021-1734, Spain with Real Decreto-ley 24/2021 and Germany. The States are obliged to implement the aforementioned Directive as well as “remedies” by

28 May 2022. Italy is expected to transpose said Directive 2019 with the European Delegation Act 2021, which is still a draft law (at the time I write this note).

At present, under Italian law, the Authority (“Agcm”) inhibits the continuation of unfair commercial practices and eliminates their effects, on its own motion or at the request of any person or organization having an interest in the matter. However, this is without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the ordinary court on acts of unfair competition, as well as, with regard to comparative advertising, acts carried out in breach of the regulations on the protection of copyright and trademarks.

Moreover, the codes of conduct and self-discipline that reinforce the system of guarantees between operators and consumers, still apply.

Attention should be drawn to the fact that the Commission, while attempting to draw up a sort of summary of the most significant decisions and putting in place an actual interpretative operation, does not formally provide a source of law since, Directive and Court of Justice rulings aside, the enforcement of the regulation at a national level remains under the supervision and jurisdiction of Member States’ local authorities, which often make a fairly independent ruling that is sensitive to national moods and interests.

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EVENTS

Pasta, Bakery & Milling back in the spotlight at IPACK-IMA 2022

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he consumption of pasta and other grain-based products will double in 10 years, in the period 20102020, from almost 9 to about 17 million tonnes per year. This was revealed by the Italian Food Union, which recently illustrated the figures for the dish that is the symbol of Italian cuisine. Italy, in the panorama of pasta, remains the reference point for production (3.9 million tonnes) and exports (2.4 million tonnes).

These data show a dynamic market that excels technologically and is represented at IPACK-IMA, the international exhibition dedicated to processing and packaging solutions, scheduled from 3 to 6 May 2022 at Fiera Milano Rho. All players have confirmed their presence at the show and many other companies specialising in this segment.

IPACK-IMA is visited by more than 74,000 professionals and buyers from 146 countries, 17% of whom come from the grain-based products market, who will find cutting-edge solutions at the show, from weighing, packaging and palletizing lines, milling, cleaning and flour handling systems, mixing, kneading, extrusion machines, dies and cutting systems to industrial baking systems for biscuits and bakery products.

In addition to technologies for

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these sectors, IPACK-IMA adds an increasingly distinctive element for the industry: packaging materials. More than 200 exhibitors will give substance to the IPACK-Mat project, the IPACKIMA brand dedicated to innovative materials - an element of particular interest to the marketing teams of manufacturing companies looking for new product ideas, where packaging plays an increasingly central role.

Special attention will be devoted to sustainability, materials in contact with food, product safety Professional

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and product preservation. In addition to IPACK-Mat, a second special area will deal with this topic: Ipack-Ima lab, an exhibition section dedicated to research laboratories, certification institutes, and centres specialising in conformity standards.

The event will also host the awards ceremony of the prestigious WorldStar event, the Global Packaging Awards promoted by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) as well as the Best Packaging Awards organised by the Italian Packaging Institute, to promote the innovation

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EVENTS

offered by the Italian packaging industry. IPACK-IMA is therefore the first face-to-face meeting for the main players in the processing and packaging world, with industry-wide previews of future consumer trends. Technological offerings must respond to new

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consumer demands: for example, there is a move towards diversification of pasta, produced with raw materials with a high protein content and greater added value, such as legume flours, lentils, chickpeas, beans and peas, or towards whole-

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wheat, gluten-free and rice pasta, as requested by consumers who are increasingly interested in "alternative" pasta. Mark your calendar for IPACK-IMA from May 3 to 6, 2022, held at Fiera Milano where strict safety protocols will be ensured by a hub that has hosted 4.5 million visitors, 36,000 companies every year from all over the world, including 80 exhibitions and 160 congresses.

Concurrently with IPACK-IMA with other thematic exhibitions dedicated to instrumental mechanics, as part of "The Innovaton Aliance" project: Intralogistica Italia, focusing on goods handling and warehouse management, Print4All, dedicated to industrial printing, converting and labelling technologies, and the first edition of Greenplast, focusing on the plastics and rubber supply chain with a focus on environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, Reduce-ReuseRecycle and circular economy.

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SUPPLIER NEWS

Selectum and Bühler create an innovative, healthy, CO2-neutral snack

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ustrian start-up Selectum and Swiss technology group Bühler have jointly created a new, healthy snack category - small, crunchy wafer pillows with a creamy dip inside. Selectum has successfully launched this innovative snack at the end of 2019 under the brand name Paddies. Paddies have a 90-degree twisted bite-size shape, and, thanks to Bühler’s induction baking technology, they are

produced 100% CO2 emission-free.

“I wanted to bring a new product to the market with wafer technology. I envisioned an innovative, healthier snack. A snack that is gluten-free, palm oilfree, not fried, with 40% less fat than chips and nachos and on top of that, with a high protein content,” says Camilo Wolff, CEO and founder of Selectum GmbH. “To develop this product, I approached Bühler as I knew they have the expertise and a technical

laboratory for product development trials.” Together with the experts of the Bühler Wafer Innovation Center in Leobendorf, Wolff and his team created a completely novel recipe for a snack with a dip inside, eliminating the need to buy a separate dip.

Selectum and Bühler ran product development trials and assessed their results in the Bühler Wafer Innovation Center’s technical laboratory. It offers special services to start-ups like Selectum, with full

Selectum factory: Camilo Wolff, CEO and founder of Selectum, and Richard Haubenberger, Food Technologist at Bühler, test the product

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SUPPLIER NEWS

Paddies are now available in three flavors - cheese, toffee, and peanut butter, all with a dip inside

support from the idea creation until after the product is running on the production line.

Camilo Wolff had precise requirements for his snack to be rich in protein and nutrients. He spent almost a year conducting hundreds of trials and tasting sessions at the Bühler Wafer Innovation Center to develop the dough and the cream. Richard Haubenberger, Food Technologist at the Bühler Wafer Innovation Center, says: “The first challenge was to find the right ingredients to use. So, we were working with different starches, such as glutenfree wheat starch, rice starch, or corn starch. We looked into rice flour and chickpea flour, which have the benefit of a higher protein level. It was a challenge to find the right raw materials. But thanks to our experience and the collaboration with our suppliers, we found the right ingredients for the best recipe.”

The laboratory is equipped with Bühler’s latest technologies, various solutions for batter and flour mixing, baking and cream refining. It offers the services of food technologists, training

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courses, and even virtual trials.

Another factor that was important to Camilo Wolff was for Selectum to produce its Paddies sustainably.

One of Bühler’s solutions at the Wafer Innovation Center is inductive technology currently used in its wafer stick oven Franz Haas EWB which allows customers a CO2-free production.

Emanuel Hoeckner, Product Manager at Bühler, says: “The inductive heating system has a lot of benefits. The production with this new heating system is not just CO2-neutral but completely CO2free.” The EWB inductive oven is 100% powered by electrical energy, it uses no gas at all.

Therefore, no CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere. It also has higher energy efficiency in general. With Bühler’s optional power pack for the EWB inductive oven, customers have the option to increase the output capacity of the EWB oven in order to adapt the production output perfectly to the respective customer requirements.

Bühler has modernized the EWB inductive heating oven by adding a special coating ring to deal with the higher salinity and lower pHProfessional

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values of the wafer batter used for the Paddies. This new coating of the baking ring enables Bühler to work with new types of ingredients and recipes and therefore increase the range of the EWB customer base.

Paddies, a unique combination of rice and chickpea flour, are now available in three flavors - cheese, toffee, and peanut butter, all with a dip inside. Selectum’s factory in Wolkersdorf, Austria, produces around 1.5 million 30-gram packages per month.

Paddies are already available on the shelves of Billa and Spar supermarkets in Austria and are sold in Germany, Italy, Finland, Spain, Hungary, and Poland.

“I am very proud of the product.

We entered the market as a startup, and we are already selling our product internationally. Two years ago, it was just an idea. Bühler has been a very supportive partner all the way.”

The Wafer Innovation Center’s laboratory is equipped with Bühler’s latest technologies, various solutions for batter and flour mixing, baking, and cream refining.

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SUPPLIER NEWS

Dry pasta lines manufacturing dry pasta?

It’s easy with Storci

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ry pasta is an iconic product of Italian business. Easy to manufacture and very widely consumed, according to ISMEA (the Research Institute for the Agricultural Food Market), dry pasta recorded a high growth rate in 2019-2020, contrary to the general trend of purchases in Italy over recent years. In the first half of 2020, consumption increased further, recording a + 28.5%.

To obtain a superior quality dry

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pasta it is necessary to rely on a trustworthy, versatile partner, ready to satisfy the customer's needs.

Our customers are familiar with our dry pasta production lines and know that they are characterized by flexibility, reliability and long life.

The secret of a good product lies not only in the choice of the plants: we are aware of the need, for those who wish to start a pasta factory, to satisfy requests,

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needs and remove doubts.

It is for this reason that today we want to talk to you about a series of services which we are able to provide, essential for starting this type of business.

The supplier represents a partner for your business. An almost intimate bond that must be based on mutual trust and a shared vision of the future. The choice of a supplier, therefore, is not a cost but an investment to focus on because, as time passes, you will

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SUPPLIER NEWS

discover the value of machines designed to last. Because when you grow, increasing production does not mean changing the pasta’s quality. Because when you have an idea, you need a team of designers behind you, capable of setting up that idea. Anyone who has shaken hands with a Storci man knows they have all this.

The plant is often the thing that scares the most. Paradoxically it is also the simplest. Apart from a normal drinking water system and the possibility of being reached by the electricity network, there are no other constraints to the construction of the line. Only the customer's floor plan is needed and our technicians will provide all the instructions required for the masonry work and the connections. After this step and a schedule defined with you, we will come to install the complete dry pasta line.

Training begins with your first visit to Storci and pretty much

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never ends. Once your expectations have been defined, thanks to our Training Center, you will be able to see the machines in operation and to follow the whole logical manufacturing process in a real pasta factory.

Once the plant has been set up, in addition to the technical tester, we provide our technologist. We will monitor your activity both in person and remotely. With your consent, thanks to our IoT personnel, we will be able to intervene without being there physically on site, to manage your drying programs with you and to provide assistance at all times, wherever you are.

By assistance we mean being able to receive spare parts in a very short time. Every day without a spare part is a day without production. The warranty safeguards us from unforeseen expenses. Especially when we are far from the supplier company, it is important to take advantage of Professional

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an extended warranty which goes well beyond the legal requirements.

Before using your own capital, it is always advisable to seek advice from a company specializing in low-interest financing. We are not talking about accountants, but about actual service companies which specialize in the study of the regulations concerning advantages granted to businesses.

It is an important moment of the decision-making process for starting a business. It is the instrument with which processes, procedures, roles, costs and margins are defined.

Dry pasta lines are our core business. Our plants can be fully automated up to trolley filling, for both short- and long-cut pasta, while leaving the task of completing the shaping to traditional drying in the static chamber. The production range: from 150 kg/h up to 1,200 kg/h.

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HISTORICAL NEWS

Spaghetti bars: early fast-food restaurants

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ften called “spaghetti houses” or “spaghetti bars”, these restaurants were some of the first to offer pasta in the United States. Many of them specialized in quick service for those on the go, where you could eat a dish of pasta at a counter bar. These restaurants built on the fast food concept used by early street vendors selling a quick bowl of spaghetti from a stand in Naples, Italy or noodles from a cart in Peking, China.

Toney’s Pizza & Spaghetti House on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana was founded in 1934, where customers sat at the counter for a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. New Orleans boasted a large population of Italian-Americans, mostly from Sicily, but Toney’s location in the middle of the bustling French Quarter meant people from all over the world experienced this style restaurant.

About 1939, the Buitoni family opened their eponymous spaghetti bar in the center of Times Square in Manhattan, New York City, which was billed as, “Served in the restaurant of tomorrow.” This spaghetti bar followed the launch of Buitoni products in the US at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Buitoni sold, “All the spaghetti you can eat for 25 cents” at a spaghetti house on the fairgrounds. Buitoni was looking to the future and for new ways to sell pasta, especially in high volume markets.

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Buitoni postcard by Colourpicture, Cambridge, Massachusetts (digitized by Leonard J. DeFrancisci)

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HISTORICAL NEWS

Original Toney's Pizza & Spaghetti House published by Jack Beech, postcard printed by Dexter Press, Inc., West Nyack, New York (digitized by Leonard J. DeFrancisci)

Spaghetti bars used innovation beyond quick service to enhance the experience. As a way to entice patrons, early street front spaghetti houses in high traffic areas often had large windows where a passerby could watch cooks wearing chef’s whites and toques preparing spaghetti in large steaming pots. To top it off, the cost of a hearty meal was reasonable. It was restaurants like these that helped spread spaghetti as a cuisine for all, and

perhaps even influenced the “fast-food” movement of the 1950s in America.

Leonard J. DeFrancisci National Pasta Association History Committee

References • Tom Fitzmorris, “Toney’s Spaghetti House”, The New Orleans Menu website (February 22, 2012) https://nomenu.com/posts/toney-sspaghetti-house.

• Judy Juanita, “G.B. Buitoni of pasta firm is dead at 87”, The Sunday Record, New Jersey, volume 84, number 187 (January 14, 1979), B-16.

• Buitoni postcard (16538), Colourpicture, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• Richard Jay Scholem, “Old-Time Dining: A Spaghetti House”, The New York Times (May 25, 1997) https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/25 /nyregion/old-time-dining-aspaghetti-house.html.

ADVERTISER INDEX AL.MA. www.almapackaging.com ANSELMO www.anselmoitalia.com BÜHLER www.buhlergroup.com

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IMPERIA & MONFERRINA www.la-monferrina.com 39 LANDUCCI www.landucci.it MININNI www.molinomininni.com

9 INSIDE BACK COVER

CASTIGLIONI www.castiglioninedo.it

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NICCOLAI www.niccolai.com

DEMACO www.demaco.com

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PASTA TECH. GROUP www.pastatechgroup.com

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DE MARI www.demaripastadies.com

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SOUFFLET GROUP www.ait-ingredients.com

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FAVA www.fava.it FOODTECH www.food-tech.it GEA www.gea.com IPACK-IMA www.ipackima.com

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22 - 23 35 INSIDE FRONT COVER

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STORCI www.storci.com

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FRONT COVER - 7

TECALIT www.tecalit.it

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TRAFILE TURCONI www.trafileturconi.it

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ZINDO www.zindo.it

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