QUALITALY

OCT. NOV. 2017

at CIC are continually monitoring in

order to always have the right product

at the right time.

And it is precisely of trends that we

speak in this latest issue of Qualitaly,

starting with the pseudo-cereals,

new ingredients rediscovered from

traditional cereals, for years neglected

and now in vogue as well as for

those intolerant to gluten or vegan,

even simply among those who have

decided to banish white flour from

their diet (service on page 50). But

why have white flours been put to

the sword? Our nutritionist Barbara

Panterna explains in the service on

page 54. Moreover, Italian food habits

have changed considerably in recent

years. A very young pastry chef from

Trento, Angela Stine (cover story on

Pag. 22) knows something of this,

and tells us of ‘alternative ingredients’

and how to recalibrate the recipes

to create her sweet specialties. And

the young protagonist of our cover

story gave us the input to conduct

an important investigation into the

generational handover that our

country is experiencing where 23%

of the ‘leaders’ of family businesses

(also in the catering sector) are more

than 70 years old and often hand the

rudder to their children (pag. 14).

The result is very interesting and

invites careful reading of the whole

magazine in search of ideas and

insights useful for your profession.

Enjoy your read

By Lorenzo Morelli

AT PAGE 6

Qi News

By Maria Elena Dipace

Professions: in Italy

more and more

cooks and bartenders,

increasingly less

workers

In Italy there are more and more

cooks and fewer labourers: in fact,

those of the catering staff (cooks,

waiters and bartenders) are the

professions that recorded the highest

growth from 2013 to 2016 in our

country, with an increase of 127,000

units (+ 13%).

They follow porters and delivery

workers (+ 73,000, with a growth

of 18.3%) and lawyers (+ 31,000,

increasing by 14.7%). On the

other hand, the figures linked to

construction are declining: skilled

workers in home finishing down

by 63,000 (-14.5%), bricklayers and

carpenters decreased by 31,000

(-6.1%); also less doctors (- 18,000,

down 6.4%), printers (- 16,000, -29.3%)

and postmen (-15,000, down 8%). This

data emerges from the study by the

Statistical Observatory of Employment

Consultants (Osservatorio statistico dei

consulenti del lavoro) on the demand

for professions in the fourth Industrial

Revolution, presented at Lingotto

in Turin at the Festival del Lavoro,

organised by category.

Bars and restaurants,

“deposit scheme” for

water and beer bottles

The experimental phase of the

“deposit scheme” system for bottles

of beer and mineral water in

bars and restaurants: a symbol at

the entrance will distinguish the

premises that have chosen to join

the experimentation, which lasts for

one year. It establishes the regulation

from the Ministry of Environment,

published on 25 September in the

Official Gazzette, which implements

the measure of “Environmental

Coordination” aimed at the

prevention of disposable packaging

waste through the introduction, on

a voluntary basis for one year, of a

return system for reusable bottles.

The regulations provide for containers

with of volume between 0.20 and

1.5 litres. “A country projected in the

circular economy like Italy – says the

Minister of Environment Gian Luca

Galletti – must be interested in a

practice such as the deposit scheme,

already successfully widespread in

other countries. This Decree – adds

Galletti – gives a chance to consumers

and businesses to discover a good

practice that helps the environment,

produces less waste and saves

money.” The aim of the “deposit

scheme” is to raise consumers’

awareness of the importance of

recycling re-use and reduce waste

production: the same containers –

more resistant glass, plastic or other

materials – can be re-used over ten

times before becoming scrap. Another

purpose of the decree, through the

envisaged monitoring system, is to

evaluate the technical-economic

and environmental feasibility of

the deposit scheme, in order to

determine whether the practice is to

be confirmed and possibly extended

to other types of product and other

types of consumption at the end of

the trial period.

Low cost test arrives to

expose food fraud

A simple and low-cost genetic test

able to expose food fraud has been

produced – in collaboration with the

University of Milano Bicocca – the

Nanobiointeractions & Nanodiagnostics

Group of the Italian Institute of

Technology (IIT), who presented a

study published in the International

journal Angewandte Chemie.

The simplified genetic test, called

NanoTracer, was developed by the

research team led by Pier Paolo Pompa

and allows genetic traceability of food,

identifying genetic barcodes, DNA

fragments that uniquely identify a type

and provides, in just over two hours

and with minimal instrumentation, a

colorimetric result easily interpreted

with the naked eye. “Thanks to this

technology - explains Paola Valentini,

IITZ researcher and author of the study

published on Angewandte

– It is also possible for unskilled

personnel to recognise in a short time

if, for example, we are in front of a

perch or a pangasius or pure saffron

or something mixed with other less

noble spices. In the case of saffron we

are able to identify small quantities,

close to 1% of false spices. “

The test is applicable to any food,

has a cost of about 10 euros and

requires a simple instrumentation.

The technology has already aroused

the interest of a number of prominent

players in the food field, assessing

MAGAZINE