New industrial processes lead to a less nutritious pasta

To be impeached is the drying process of pulp using high temperatures.

The process, used by major industries, would in fact organoleptic and nutritional alterations of the product.

The cry of alarm is launched by professor Pier Paolo Resmini, Department of food science and technology and the University of Milan microbiological which carried out together with a team of researchers on the study.

Gone the days when the mixture of semolina and water was annoyed with the wind currents of Castellammare, by about two decades the industrial production of pasta introduced drying techniques that use the heat: the mixture is subjected to high temperature Chambers.

With the passage of time, have used higher temperatures. This method made it possible to greatly reduce the drying time: from sixteen hours that would have normally required, with 65-70 degrees centigrade, it comes to less than four hours for drying the pasta (which can exceed 100 degrees).

But when the temperatures rise too much, according to Resmini, produces a series of transformations of the product, not all positive.

"A dry pasta over to 85-90 degrees, in the face of conventional 60-65" explains the researcher "changes in flavor, turns away from that wheat and approaches that of bakery products such as bread and biscuits.

Also what is the higher the temperature, the greater the reduction of pasta's nutritional value: significantly decreases the amount of lysine, an important protein that after switching to the high temperature, can suffer a reduction ranging from 20 up to 40-50 percent, depending on the quality of the flour used.

Finally, with high alcohol content, form and degrade in the dough some compounds derived from the reaction of proteins with sugars, creating substances like furosina, which does not exist in nature and which is decidedly dubious harmlessness ".

"The industry" continues the Professor "should indicate the drying temperature in packages of pasta, in order to make consumers aware of this fact".

Decidedly the opposite position on Franco Casacci, researcher of Barilla, reminiscent of the beneficial effects of high temperature, first of all to ensure greater cooking pasta estate "not to mention that the elements to be taken into account are, in addition to temperature, the long exposure to the heat source, which in such cases is greatly reduced".

Riccardo Monacelli, charged with Alimentaria and editor of the magazine "food science" on the subject States that "thermal damage doesn't mean harm to the health of the individual" and that "it has been confirmed the toxicity of substances like foresina, present among other things in the crust of the bread and in pasteurized milk.

"Moreover," concludes Monacelli "according to a study carried out by our researchers, the reduction of lysine does not exceed 20 per cent with a temperature of 85 degrees, as with normal reduction would already have 60 of 7/8 percent."

Source: Repubblica.it archive (article by Arianna Finos)