Life is too short to eat bad ice cream and that’s a thought endorsed by Italian senators who are considering a law that would fine vendors for selling artificially enhanced frozen treats. Italian gelato is one of the gastronomic symbols of Italy and having a version of it that’s pumped with nearly 80 percent air is absolutely unacceptable. This is why new rules are in place which state ice cream must contain no more than 30 percent air and be made using high-quality ingredients and methods to qualify as gelato. Italy takes its gelato seriously and will henceforth prohibit ice cream makers from pumping mixtures full of air and adding cheap ingredients; non-adherence to these rules can lead to fines up to £8,000 ($11000). Alberto Manassei, one of Rome’s ‘gelato masters’ says, “If you go through the list of ingredients, you’ll see that the key one is often the last. If the last thing you find in a pistachio ice cream is pistachio, then you have a problem.”
The bill was first introduced in 2019 by socialist Senator Riccardo Nencini and is currently working its way through parliament with input from gelato experts. “Italian ice cream has always been one of the gastronomic symbols of our country, recognized globally together with pizza and pasta, but our laws do not preserve artisanal ice cream and producers who make it.” senator Riccardo Nencini said.
[Via: Telegraph]
