The price of pasta over time
Although Italians’ salaries have lost purchasing power compared with other European countries and with past decades, according to a recent analysis the price of pasta in relation to purchasing power has today halved compared with the 1980s. The reason for this decrease is undoubtedly better industrialisation of production, which has meant producing more product in a given time. In the 1980s and 1990s, less product was made in an hour. Today some production lines can reach over 10,000 kg/h while maintaining a level of quality, appearance and taste that the majority of the public likes.
The drying of industrial pasta
The point is how these results were achieved. Which stages of the production process have significantly “shortened” production times?
Without going into the detail of the production process – from the silos to packaging, all steps in which significant improvements have occurred – it is certain that one of the stages that has contributed most to cutting times, and to the resulting increase in output, is the drying process.
Drying, in the food industry, is the process that removes water from a substance with the main aim of aiding its preservation, packaging, transport and sale. New drying processes can reach temperatures of over one hundred degrees.
The question is whether this evolution of the process may pose health risks.
To date, there is no significant scientific evidence indicating health hazards from the application of this production process.
It is nevertheless clear that pasta dried at 40–60 degrees is a different product from pasta dried at 110 degrees, both in purely visual terms and in terms of the chemical transformation of the product. The evidence is provided by the producers themselves, who sell pasta labelled “slow-dried”, generally at a higher price than “quick-dried” pasta, implicitly and sometimes explicitly conveying to consumers the idea that this pasta may be better than “quick-dried” pasta.
“Furosine°”: the invisible element that causes disagreement
From a chemical point of view, the distinctive element that identifies high-temperature drying is the production of furosine, a molecule belonging to the glycated molecules known as AGEs (Advanced Glycation Endproducts). Furosine is a compound that is not present in foods; it is an analytical artefact used to trace the quantity of the Amadori compound, which characterises the first stage of the Maillard reaction¹. Therefore, according to experts, it could for the moment be considered useful only as a process marker to identify the intensity of the drying process, but there is no scientific proof that furosine has harmful effects on our health. It should be noted, however, that opinions on this subject differ and are not definitive.
Gluten is another element under discussion.
Gluten is a protein complex found in many cereals, and is made up of two proteins: gliadin and glutenin. Gliadin is the one to which the vast majority of allergic people develop an allergic intolerance reaction. Those who suffer from coeliac disease are precisely those with a permanent intolerance to gluten.
According to some research, drying that is too fast would result in a greater quantity of gluten in the pasta, making it less digestible. On the other hand, a greater quantity of gluten is cited by some manufacturers as a positive element. A higher protein content has the advantage of keeping the pasta from overcooking: a characteristic that is fundamental, above all, for Italian tastes.
In everyday practice, it is advisable to read the protein content on the box, since gluten is a protein complex. Colour also matters: darker pasta is probably pasta dried at a high temperature.
In conclusion: industrial pasta production has undergone considerable changes over the decades, with an economically favourable effect for the consumer, who can buy the product at a lower price. Despite this considerable advantage, the product has undergone significant production changes that affect the end result, not so much as regards everyday use, which has become closer to the average consumer’s taste, but as regards its organoleptic properties.
Italian pasta producers are a world-class excellence. And indisputably, the quality controls for the benefit of consumers in Italy are among the most efficient (anyone who has lived or lives abroad can confirm this). This does not alter the fact that the use of certain production methods – such as, precisely, high-temperature drying – helps to create doubts, perhaps unfounded, of a scientific and nutritional nature about the final product.
“Sources and further reading:
°Concept of Furosine, average turnover of Italian companies – Data from *MercatoGlobale.it.”
