Nicely packaged and backed by a generous PR budget to push a story of Italian tradition, high end Made in Italy pasta brands almost always market themselves as bespoke, artisan products, regardless of the origin and quality of the wheat. Slow-dried, bronze-drawn are good things to see on a pasta label, but did you know that Made in Italy doesn’t necessarily relate to ingredient quality or the industrial and harmful agricultural practices employed to grow them?
According to the Italian food journal Il Salvagente, a recent lab analysis found seven of twenty popular Italian spaghetti brands to contain Bayer’s ubiquitous herbicide glyphosate*. Six of those were made using wheat imported to Italy.
Italy is the 6th largest importer of wheat globally, and most of it comes from Canada, where glyphosate spraying of its GM wheat (to uniformly dry out the grain) is standard practice just prior to harvesting. There is also documented contamination by the mycotoxin DON (deoxynivalenol) and the heavy metal cadmium in Canadian wheat (source: Grano Salus).
Italy prohibited pre-harvest glyphosate spraying when the cancer research arm of the WHO classed it as a carcinogen, but Made In Italy pasta can still end up contaminated with glyphosate, namely through imported wheat which comes mainly from Canada with its laxer environmental laws.
A journal article published in 2020 by Frontiers** states:
“…..Glyphosate may be a critical environmental trigger in the etiology of several disease states… including celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Glyphosate exposure may also have consequences for mental health, including anxiety and depression, through alterations in the gut microbiome.”
Echoing a 2020 Science Direct article*** consumption of glyphosate and permitted chemicals don’t pose an immediate risk to mammals but the effects are related to long term exposure. These substances don’t metabolise easily and are cumulative in human, animal and environmental systems. Their study shows that chemical residues are consistently highest on non-organic wholewheat pasta and bread – a persuasive argument to avoid what is often promoted as the healthiest option for gut health!
Residues in pasta would require prolonged exposure at 100ºC to break down, so, unfortunately, they aren’t removed by cooking.
Italy raised the bar on consumer and market protection in 2017 by forcing brands to declare the origin of the wheat used in their pasta on the label. This prompted Barilla to temporarily reduce its Canadian wheat imports by 35% in response to consumer concern over glyphosate contamination. Nonetheless, trade friction ensued and the law was quietly reverted in December 2021. Since then, imported wheat – invariably cheaper, low quality grain to meet a lower price point – can be labelled as Made in Italy, as long as the manufacturing took place there.
Pasta labelled as 100% Made in Italy must actually use Italian-grown wheat. This is a significant improvement, but Italian farmers are still allowed to clear fields with glyphosate before sowing and treat stored grain with insecticide.
Only certified organic 100% Made in Italy pasta guarantees the absence of chemical herbicides and pesticides, establishing a chain of traceability back to a specific farmer.
Being the zealots that we are, Seggiano pasta is made from organic wheat exclusively of Tuscan origin. We work with Alessio, who makes excellent pasta and whose family are generational wheat growers in the Val D’Orcia of southern Tuscany, an area dubbed the breadbasket of Italy for its long history of excellence in wheat cultivation.
I remember about eight years ago he was politely sceptical about our commitment to organic product. Last year he told me that his family has converted its very extensive wheat acreage in the Val d’Orcia to organic production for Seggiano. This is the kind of positive partnership which our brand is built on.
Seggiano pasta is organic and GMO free certified.
Food is about enjoying nourishment and it’s worth putting your money where your mouth is when choosing the pasta you eat, if you care about your health and the environment.
* https://ilsalvagente.it/2020/11/27/glyfosate-spaghetti-in-italy-7-brands-contaminated/
** https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.556729/full
*** https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/glyphosate
