RIMINI, Italy – Flour represents a valuable heritage not only from a nutritional, but also historic and cultural point of view: a safe, healthy and high-quality Italian product. Nevertheless, in Italy, the amount of bread eaten now is set at around 43 kg per capita, a figure well below that reported in other countries (81 kg in Germany, 48 kg in Spain and the United Kingdom).
This reduction in consumption penalizes a sector that is lively and highly qualified, but is suffering from increasing disinformation.
These are the facts outlined at Sigep by the conference “We have the bread we deserve” held by Italmopa and Info Farine. “The information that reaches consumers is a fundamental issue, but is not always complete and correct”, commented TV personality Patrizio Roversi at the conference.
“Consumers have become demanding, consider what they eat, but they need to study in greater depth. There again, the very means of communication rarely spend time considering these topics in depth, which are complex but fundamental, because flour also represents a cultural value in Italy.”
“We have the flour we deserve… in other words the best in the world!” states Italmopa President Cosimo De Sortis. “It’s no coincidence that flour-based products – from pizza, through bread and pasta to desserts, represent the best Italian-made produce worldwide.”
Bread: Consumers on the hunt for “natural”
A market increasingly oriented toward “natural” products, which also pursues wellness during meals, transforming it into a modern-day legend. This is the current scenario that was outlined at Sigep by AIBI, the Italian Bakery Ingredients Association. From the survey carried out by Cerved, constant attention emerges in particular for wellness, achieved by eating well, therefore also carefully choosing bread, intended as a product that results in health. Precisely for this, today bread is to be found in an increasing number of different products that can offer options and diversified advantages.
“It is a sort of return to the origins”, Palmino Poli, president of the AIBI explained at the conference. “The pursuit of naturalness intended as lightness and health, which also belongs to various periods, and bread, right from ancient times, was seen as a “gift of the gods”, best representing this consumption trend, which is old and new at the same time.”
Between 2011 and 2016, bread with added value, produced using selected raw materials, was the most popular, with an increase of 10%. Nowadays, according to Cerved, the liveliest area of the sector focuses precisely on the “natural-healthy” combination: currently, this component accounts for 20% of the entire market, but is destined to grow further.
At the AIBI conference, speakers included Cesare Manetti (in charge of the course in Agro-Industrial Biotechnologies and Food Science and Technologies at La Sapienza University), Roberto Capello (chairman, Federazione italiana panificatori – Italy’s bakers federation) and Nadia D’Incecco (sales manager with AB MAURI).
Italian Junior Pastry Championship: Gold Medal for Filippo Valsecchi (Lecco)
A launching pad for aspiring pastry chefs in the professional world. On Saturday, the Italian Junior Pastry and Chocolate Championship was held in the shrine of confectionery art, Sigep’s Pastry Arena.
On the top level of the podium, 20 year-old Filippo Valsecchi, from Lecco, who beat his two colleagues Vincenzo Donnarumma (Naples), in second place, and bronze medal winner Alessandro Vernocchi from Rimini.
“Those who entered the Arena”, commented master pastry chef Gino Fabbri, a member of the jury, “were all really well-prepared youngsters. They showed great concentration, promising ability and technique and great passion, a fundamental ingredient. The entire trade watches this new young generation with great confidence, absorbing fresh new stimuli from the boys’ creativity.”
The young pastry chefs prepared sweet creations, inspired by the theme ‘Stars and legends’, which they implemented in the three tests: artistic pièce in sugar and chocolate, modern chocolate and hazelnut cake and an individual portion of tiramisù. The winner, Filippo Valsecchi will represent Italy at the 2019 Junior World Pastry Championship in Rimini.
Focus on Sigep 2018
Dates: 20 – 24 January 2018; Organizers: Italian Exhibition Group SpA; edition: 39th SIGEP; frequency: annual; classification: international; admittance: trade members only; hours: 9:30 am – 6:00 pm, last day 9:30 am – 3:00 pm (3:00 – 5:00 pm only with online tickets).
