Pasta ‘bronze drawn‘? ‘Bronze-drawn‘? What value does the wording that stands out on many labels of the emblem of Italian cuisine and industry express? Is public information fair and consistent with productive reality?
The Antitrust Authority (Autorità Garante per la Concorrenza e il Mercato, AGCM), Directorate General for Consumer Protection has begun collecting news and documents from Italian pasta industries.
Amid industry practice and jargon, existing rules and fake news, it seems appropriate to clarify a few concepts.
Pasta production, the drawing stage
Drawing is that essential step in the process in which the mixture of water and durum wheat semolina or semolina (and/or other grains and legumes) is extruded at a more or less high pressure-through perforated templates, the dies precisely-to make pasta in the different shapes required. (1) To every format its rigmarole.
The dough is then cut, either with rotary blades (in industry) or knives (in artisanal and domestic preparations. In preparation for subsequent pre-drying, drying, stabilization, and cooling operations. And packaging, for pastas intended for sale as prepackaged foods.
Drawing with ‘bronzes,’ Teflon, stainless steel
The tradition of artisans and families rests on the use of copper-based metal alloy dies (so-called bronzes). Which give the dough a porous, dull-colored surface that is nevertheless ideal for absorbing and retaining seasonings. Several industries in turn use bronze (copper and tin alloy) or brass (copper and zinc) dies. (2) Precisely because many consumers favor flavor over appearance.
Teflon™ or PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), a polymer obtained from the synthesis of carbon and fluorine), was itself introduced to the drawing industry because of its affordability and versatility of use. Teflon-drawn pasta is distinguished by its smoother and shinier surface, which in turn is especially popular in foreign markets.
Stainless steel-a widely used material in food items and utensils (3)-has, in turn, been introduced in the production of pasta dies for some years now. However, stainless steel has a low thermal diffusion, which can overheat the paste and damage its protein structure, with unfavorable impact on some paste properties (e.g., the cooking tightness, chewability, etc.). (4)
Antitrust, investigation into ‘bronze-drawn’ pasta
The Antitrust Authority, following a report from a supposedly ‘very shrewd’ consumer, has begun to collect information and documentation about materials used by major Italian industries in the production of pastas that carry wording such as ‘bronze-drawn‘ on their labels or advertisements. With the aim of clarifying three aspects.
The first question to be checked is whether all the paste designated as such is produced exclusively with copper-based alloy dies. Given that some industries-as Report showed in its report ‘Teflon-drawn pasta‘ (see above)-use both bronze, or brass, and Teflon (or perhaps even, in some cases, stainless steel) dies in the same plants.
Bronze dies and current rules, the grotesque fake news
The second issue submitted to the AGCM concerns the hypothetical illegality of the use of copper-based alloys in food contact materials and articles (MOCAs). The reporter – ‘very shrewd’ but not too shrewd, or perhaps in bad faith – may have raised a grotesque fake news according to which bronze, copper and BrAl (bronze+aluminum) could not be used for food contact because they are not mentioned in the positive list of MOCAs introduced by DM 27.3.73.
The fake news-taken up without due fact checking or any decency (5,6,7)-was launched by a self-styled food technologist. Who certainly did not study dairy techniques, where the most celebrated raw milk hard cheeses-Parmigiano Reggiano in primis, strictly speaking-are prepared in copper boilers. Nor did it consider that the specification for Pasta di Gragnano PGI, approved by MiPAAF and the European Commission, requires the use of bronze dies.
Fake news, the immigration tidbit
“Add to that the fact that on immigration, in the case of metals, at the paste, at least I, but like me a great many of my colleagues, have never been able to carry out that kind of analysis.” (5)
The anonymous waffler who denigrated bronze, brass and BrAl dies with fake news in March 2020 – for the ill-concealed purpose of promoting stainless steel ones, in ways so worthy of an AGCM investigation – referred to ‘immigration analyses‘ instead of ‘migration tests. But there is more.
Bronze dies, in accordance with art and law
The Food Contact Materials Regulation (EC Reg. 1935/04) unquestionably permits the use of copper-based alloys-as well as other alloys such as cast iron, although not mentioned in DM 27.3.73-in materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. In compliance with the general safety requirements set forth in Article 3, in particular, and without defining specific standards with respect to such materials,
National legislation, which is reserved for specific regulation of individual groups of MOCAs not covered by harmonized rules, in turn has not acted on copper-based alloys. Instead, the Ministry of Health has provided operational guidelines for assessing their suitability, in line with ISS (Istituto Superiore di Sanità) guidance on how to perform migration testing.
Bronze dies and consumer information
The third aspect that the Competition and Market Authority will have to assess is the fairness of consumer information. Having regard to the use, in B2C (businesstoconsumers) communication, of an expression rooted in B2B(business to business) language. Where it refers to ‘bronze‘ to mean the various alloys most commonly used in paste dies (bronze, brass, BrAl).
The average consumer probably associates the ‘bronze die‘ with a traditional process that can produce a rough pasta that absorbs and retains seasonings. And the scientific bibliography shows that this condition is effectively and indifferently fulfilled by drawing in various copper-based metal alloys (not also in Teflon).
Cues for improvement
Any reference to the exact names of individual ‘bronzes,’ for that matter, would not be as clear. The phrase ‘bronze drawing‘ is now customary in meaning a process that determines a characteristic of the product. The expression ‘brass die,’ conversely, would require a note of clarification in the same visual field as the label.
Rather, the goal of providing the consumer with clear and complete information can be fulfilled with a QR-code that calls up a web page where it better explains the process of metal drawing with copper-based alloys and the distinctive value it imprints on perhaps less beautiful but good products. The fraud on pasta – complete with mockery of AGCM itself, as noted (10) – lies elsewhere.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Dario Dongo. Durum wheat pasta, other cereals, legumes. ABC. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 11/13/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/pasta-di-grano-duro-altri-cereali-legumi-l-abc
(2) The currently most popular copper-based alloys, designated as ‘bronzes’ in the European Copper Institute lexicon, are:
– bronze (copper+tin),
– brass (copper+zinc),
– BrAl (bronze+aluminum),
– cuprallumin (copper+aluminum)
(3) Dario Dongo, Luca Foltran. Stainless steel in MOCAs, Ministry of Health decree and gaps in Europe. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 17.8.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi/acciaio-inox-nei-moca-decreto-ministero-salute-e-lacune-in-europa
(4) Kill et al. (2001). Pasta and semolina technology. Blackwell Science, ISBN 0-632-05349-6. Available for consultation on Issuu. https://issuu.com/igorgrujovski8/docs/pasta_and_semolina_technology
(5) Giancarlo Tommasone. “I reveal the big lie about the quality of bronze-drawn pasta.” Stylo24. 3.3.20, https://www.stylo24.it/bugia-pasta-trafilata-bronzo/
(6) We reveal the secrets of bronze-drawn pasta. The Sicily inquiry. 9.3.20. https://inchiestasicilia.com/2020/03/09/vi-sveliamo-i-segreti-della-pasta-trafilata-al-bronzo/
(7) Sara Minicone. Bronze wire drawing: is it really synonymous with quality? Problem-free health care. 3/16/20, https://sanitasenzaproblemi.it/trafilatura-al-bronzo-e-davvero-sinonimo-di-qualita/
(8) Dario Dongo. Contact materials, safety issue. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9/27/18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi/materiali-a-contatto-questione-sicurezza
(9) Ministry of Health. Note no. 20072-P. Guidance for inspections of metal alloy objects and porcelain enamel-coated objects intended for food contact. Office VI – DGISAN, 5/20/2014, https://bit.ly/3BARm23
(10) Dario Dongo. Spaghetti westerns in the Abruzzese style. Filippo Antonio De Cecco’s film, premiere. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.2.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/spaghetti-western-all-abruzzese-il-film-di-filippo-antonio-de-cecco-in-anteprima
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
