A hunger for authentic pasta

Two simple ingredients

IN AMBIENT PASTA

 Ambient pasta is made with a mixture of durum wheat semolina and water. Once kneaded, the resulting dough is extruded through a ‘die’ to shape it. Of the hundreds of different pasta shapes, the most popular in the UK include fusilli, penne and spaghetti. After being extruded the pasta is slowly dried in special ovens. This takes several hours as excessive heat would cause the pasta to turn dark and increase the likelihood of hairline cracks forming, which would cause it to break when placed in boiling water. At the end of the drying process, the pasta is shelf-stable, requires no sterilisation and has a shelf life of up to three years. In contrast to ambient pasta, fresh pasta typically contains eggs and does not undergo a drying process. It is pasteurised and, with a much shorter life than ambient pasta, must be kept refrigerated.

Pasta dough is squeezed through shaped ‘dies’, with different shapes produced by changing the die. Dies can be made from steel (which may be Teflon coated) or brass. A Teflon die produces a smoother and brighter-looking pasta while a bronze die, which is generally used for premium pasta, gives a more coarse, traditional finish that helps the sauce stick to the pasta.

Atlante's production partners

All Atlante partner producers are vetted and onboarded

 according to strict sustainable, ethical, technical, quality and safety parameters. The key criteria are that production sites are BRC certified, SMETA audited and work to SEDEX standards. Our producers demonstrate reliability, capacity and experience with large retail customers (preferably international). All the producers Atlante works with have been manufacturing pasta for decades – some of them for generations – and there is little that can be taught to them in terms of how to make good pasta. What can often be improved is the overall efficiency and safety of the production process. Atlante’s input has helped improve producers' efficiency, safety and hygiene standards while increasing customers’ awareness of the key attributes of high-quality pasta. We believe our work with pasta producers is always mutually beneficial.

WHEAT

THE HEART OF QUALITY PASTA

While much of the durum wheat used for pasta is grown in Italy, the country's production does not cover all its demand and a varying amount of durum wheat is imported from abroad, dependent on the local crop. The most important sourcing market is Canada, responsible for more than 40% of the world’s durum wheat exports. Like any crop, durum wheat is susceptible to the weather and 2021 proved to be a particularly difficult year, with a third of Canada’s durum wheat harvest destroyed by the July heat wave. To help us evaluate and take mitigating action in the event of such adverse weather, Atlante has developed relationships with mills and grain dealers. In addition to insights obtained through our contacts in the industry, we track durum wheat semolina prices on the AGER grain index of the Bologna stock exchange. Indexes reflect market prices and give an indication of trends and, combined with industry insights, are a useful tool to help guide sourcing strategies. While this cannot totally insulate Atlante from the vagaries of adverse weather, draught or other phenomena, it puts us in a good place to evaluate and adopt mitigating actions when needed to provide the optimum solution for our customers. Guide to Ambient Pasta DURUM

not all durum wheat is the same

PASTA SUPPLY CHAIN

Not all durum wheat is the same According to Italian law, pasta can only be made from durum wheat semolina.1 The key element in determining the quality of wheat is its gluten content. Gluten is the wheat’s protein and the higher the content, the higher the elasticity and resistance to bite of the pasta. The minimum protein content set by Italian law for durum wheat semolina is 10.5%, but premium pasta brands hardly ever fall below the 13% protein threshold.

Being a single-ingredient product, pasta has a relatively simple supply chain.

1. Durum wheat is harvested in June/July in Europe and in August/September in North America.

2. Once harvested, durum wheat is stocked by farmers/traders, who supply it to mills.

3. Mills process the durum wheat by grinding it to transform it into semolina which is a coarse flour.

4. Semolina is supplied to pasta producers. (Some have their own mills, shortening the supply chain.)

How Atlante will work with you to develop a product

• Understand We work with customers to develop a cross-functional brief incorporating product, quality, volumes, supply chain and ethical considerations.
• Find We look at our existing producers and consider potential producers who could meet the brief.
• Assess We study and assess the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of the producers for achieving the objectives in the brief.
• Develop We work with the producer to develop products to the sample stage, or develop projects to the business case stage.
• Select We benchmark producer capability and then select suitable producers or projects to propose to the customer.
• Cost We will work with the customer and producer to submit delivered costs.
• Manage We will manage the project at all stages through to launch.
• Forecast We collaborate with the customer to identify a joint forecast and order profile.
• Launch We will provide dedicated resource to support the launch at point of change.
• Review We complete a postimplementation review to identify issues and future improvements.

Passion and extensive experience enables Atlante to source exciting brand and ownlabel pasta products in a range of shapes, tiers, sizes, packaging formats and recipes:

• Shapes We supply long and short shapes from classics such as penne to the more unusual casarecce or mezzi rigatoni.
• Tiers We can brief, develop, supply and manage across all product tiers, from entry to premium.
• Sizes We produce pack sizes for retail ownlabel ranges including medium, large and extra large.
• Packaging Packaging can be designed and supplied in formats including bags and boxes in a range of materials.
• Recipes Recipes can be developed to cater for specific dietary demands such as free-from or high-fibre.
• Ingredients Specialist pasta can be developed using grains including wholewheat, buckwheat, red lentil, green pea and brown rice.

Shapes: more than meets the eye

Anyone trying to list all the pasta shapes produced in Italy would face a daunting challenge.

Ambient pasta is usually described as either being ‘pasta lunga’ (long) or ‘pasta corta’ (short).

Specific pasta types are best suited for specific sauces. Twist pasta shapes such as fusilli, trofie, strozzapreti, caserecce and gemelli suit lighter, smoother sauces like pesto that will cling to the twists, whereas long ribbon pasta shapes such as tagliatelle, pappardelle, fettuccine, mafaldine are best with rich, meaty sauces.

Approximately 70% of sales come from three shapes - fusilli, spaghetti and penne - in various pack sizes (500g, 1kg, 3kg) and using various ingredients (semolato, core white semolina, wholewheat, organic, spelt, highfibre etc). A retailer’s premium range allows for more adventurousness and features shapes such as conchiglioni (large shells ideal for pasta bakes), casarecce (short twists) or mezzi rigatoni (short rigatoni tubes).

SPECIAL DIETS

Atlante supplies gluten-free pasta for retailer own label and under our Atlante brand. Free-from pasta is made from a combination of yellow maize, white maize and wholegrain rice. A 100% maize pasta is also supplied under the Atlante brand. Among the innovative products supplied by Atlante are legumebased pastas. Rich in protein, naturally gluten-free, tasty, healthy and versatile, the Red Lentil Penne and Green Pea Fusilli have been part of retailer’s private-label assortment ever since and have become a favourite with shoppers. Atlante also exports speciality pasta to Japan under the Atlante brand.

Key UK market trends 

Pandemic boom
Pasta consumption soared in 2020 during the covid pandemic. It is too early to say whether this will leave an increased appetite for pasta going forward, driving volumes long-term.

Healthy eating
This trend has many different connotations, with organic and free-from areas of increasing focus.

UK ambient pasta market snapshot

Retail market value* £500m

Value growth 2020* +15%

The market is dominated by private label and, when it comes to brands, the leading ones are: Napolina De Cecco Barilla

* Source: The Grocer Pasta & Pasta Sauces Category Report 2020

Key Challenge

FALLING PRICES

Key challenge Falling prices Although some pasta consumers recognise quality and will pay for it, shoppers tend to choose what costs less. Retailers have engaged in a price war that has convinced consumers prices can only go down. In 2015, before discount retailers such as Aldi and Lidl took the UK market by storm, the average price a 500g pack of pasta was 90p. The result is that the value of the market has been impacted without this being counterbalanced by an expansion of the market. Although that global pandemic has driven a sharp rise in pasta sales it is likely volumes will remain stable: people will not eat more pasta simply because it costs less. Compounding this in the short-term is the increase in durum wheat prices caused by the Canadian harvest’s shortfall.

KEY OPPORTUNITY

GREATER DIFFERENTIATION

There is an opportunity to bring interest to the category with different pasta shapes as the ranges offered by major UK retailers are all quite similar. Most retailer ranges are focused on proven sellers such as fusilli, penne and spaghetti in every possible size and recipe iteration. Removing some of the most obvious redundancies and substituting them with more 'exotic' regional shapes such as Apulian Orecchiette, Sardinian Gnocchetti or Long Curly Fusilli could add distinctiveness to a range, stimulate consumers’ curiosity and, ultimately, bring back value.