Barilla, ministries team up for pasta

(ANSA) - Milan, May 20 - Italy's agriculture and industry ministers, and pasta industries association AIDEPI are coming together in light of Expo Milan 2015 to launch a Pasta Control Room to protect Italy's emblematic food, officials announced on Wednesday in Milan.
    "Our goal is to find a development strategy and identity in foreign markets so that pasta is an identity element of our country and an important sector of Italian economy" Paolo Barilla, AIDEPI president and vice president of the pasta company, said, adding "but we risk giving a step away to non-Italian companies".
    The so-called Pasta Control Room will be a tri-fold pasta program that focuses on promoting and supporting competitiveness, creating programs for cultivation of quality wheat and endorsing pasta as a Made in Italy symbol.
    According to 2014 data by AIDEPI, pasta exports make up 57 percent of national production with Europe Union eating up 66% and the American market enjoying 151,000 tons.
    Expo Milan 2015 runs until October 31 on the theme Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.