Traditional Pajata back on menu as EU ends mad cow scare

(ANSA) Rome, March 18 - Traditional Roman Pajata made from the intestines of an unweaned calf is back on Italian menus after the EU lifted restrictions imposed in 2001 in the face of Mad Cow disease (Bse), the Coldiretti farmers' union said Wednesday.
    The EU's permanent committee on vegetable and animal foodstuffs in Brussels voted Tuesday night to life the restrictions given that there have been no new cases of bce since 2009, Coldiretti president Roberto Moncalvo said, calling it "an important result for consumers, restaurants, cooks, butchers and farmers".
    Moncalvo also hailed the "decisive commitment of the Health Ministry" in the decision.
    Coldiretti ladies celebrated the ruling Wednesday morning by cooking a massive pot of steaming, pungent Pajata in the union's headquarters at Palazzo Rospigliosi.
    To make pajata, traditionally eaten with rigatoni pasta, the intestines are cleaned and skinned, but the chyme is left inside. Then the intestine is cut in pieces 20 - 25 cm long, which are bound together with white thread, forming rings.