WORLD PASTA DAY 2014 LANDS IN ARGENTINA– THE WORLD OF PASTA GATHERS IN BUENOS AIRES TO CELEBRATE THE QUEEN OF THE TABLE: TASTY, HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE
24 October2014– The annualinternational “General Assembly” of Pasta has arrived:WorldPastaDay2014 will take place inBuenosAires inArgentina where theUnion of Pasta Manufacturers of the Republic of Argentina (UIFRA),in collaboration with the InternationalPasta Organisation(IPO), is organizing theConference “Pasta: Added Value for Family Nutrition – Pasta: Valor Agregado para la Nutrición Familiar.”
World Pasta Day is celebrated every year through events and promotional activities that take place, even in parallel,indifferent parts of the world, and by now anevent that is famous and attended with much anticipation, also thanks to the different communication activities promoted in the various countries by Associations,pasta factories, restaurant chains and various bodies that contribute to giving great visibility to pasta internationally.
The objective of the initiative, created by a group of trade associations from different countries of the world – the same that then decided to found the IPO orInternational Pasta Organisation in 2005– is to celebrate pasta and to communicate its nutritional values tomedia and consumers, explaining how this global food, by now consumed in allcontinents,is able tosatisfynot only the primary food requirements but also to exalt the most refined experimentations in the gastronomic field.
As every year, manufacturers, economists, nutritionists, opinion leaders and media from all over the world will attend, to celebrate an ancient food, rich in history, now served on the tables of the entire world.
The central theme will be promoting pasta from the standpoint of its taste, nutritional properties, respect for the environment, and affordability.
The congressional proceedings will bepreceded by the GeneralAssembly of the IPO, which among other things will proceed to ratify the appointment of thenew President, Riccardo Felicetti, alreadyPresident of thePasta Group AIDEPI: therefore, leading the IPO in 2015 – an important year, also because of the Milan EXPO – will be an Italian.
IPO has also entrusted AIDEPI with the organization of the V World Pasta Conference, which, every five years, brings together leaders of the world pasta manufacturing industry. The conference will take place during World Pasta Day 2015, at the EXPO venue, in theme with the event: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.
Welcoming remarks for the event will be given by Fabian Menichelli,Vice-President of UIFRA; Daniel Funes de Rioja, President of the Federation of the Argentine Food Industry (COPAL); and the Under-secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oscar Solis.
There will be numerous contributions from experts in a range of sectors, including an analysis of pasta and commodity market trends, and the central themes will be nutrition and environmental sustainability.
Three international experts in nutrition– Prof. Sergio Britos (University of Buenos Aires),P rof. Cyril Kendall (University of Toronto) and Prof. Alberto Cormillot (Universidad Isalud)– will be called on to dispel false myths and preconceptions about pasta, explaining why it is a valid and suitable food for the nutritional requirements typical of a modern, healthy diet, which, if eaten in the right quantities and seasoned in a balanced way, is, with every right, even present in low-calorie diets.
Sara Baer-Sinnott (Oldways, Boston) will moderate the work session and will also present the new Webinar “Pasta: A Unique Grain Food,” in collaboration with three experts, members of the IPO Scientific Advisory Committee Prof. Gabriele Riccardi (“FedericoII” University of Naples), Dr. ssa Kantha Shelke (Chicago) and Prof. Marta Gaurelet Aza (University of Murcia,Spain).
Once the false myths and preconceptions are dispelled, and the primacy of pasta from the nutritional standpoint is reaffirmed, engineer Luca Ruini, Health, Safety, Environment& Energy Director of Barilla, will explain, studies in hand, why pasta, in addition to being tasty and a good food choice, is also environmentally friendly. Few foods can boast a “sustainability index” as high as pasta. An analysis of the lifecycle of the product shows that in fact, from the field to the table, pasta’s ecological footprint is indeed small. In other words, eating a plate of pasta means choosing a food produced in full respect of the environment.
A session devoted to taste will close the programme. Well-known Argentinechef and television host Juan Braceli has been invited to speak aboutpasta from the gastronomic standpoint.
THE FIGURES OF THEPASTA MARKET: OVER 14.2 MILLION TONS PRODUCED IN THE WORLD, OF WHICH OVER 3.4 MILLION INI TALY
The importance of WorldPastaDay is also reflected in the figures: the pasta market is ever increasingly more global, as by now more than 14 million tonsof pasta are produced in the world.
The Italian pasta manufacturing industry still holds the record for production, installed production capacity, domestic consumption, per capita consumption and export.
If the European Union – mainly due to the role of Italy–covers a share of 35.7% of the world production, the rest is as follows: 16.3% in the remaining European countries, Central and South America account for 21%, North America 15.2%, Africa 5.6%, the Middle East4.1%, Asia1.7% and, finally, Australia 0.4%.
In the world consumption ranking, Italy confirms its number one position with over25 kilos per capita, followed by Tunisia (16kg),Venezuela (12.2 kg), Greece (11.5 kg), the United States (8.8kg), Chile (8.4kg) and Argentina (8.3kg).
WORLD PASTA DAY 2014 LANDS IN ARGENTINA – THE WORLD OF PASTA GATHERS IN BUENOS AIRES TO CELEBRATE THE QUEEN OF THE TABLE: TASTY, HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE
