(ANSA) - ROME, NOVEMBER 30 - 70% of Italians choose frozen dishes at the restaurant without problems.
That "asterisk" shown in the menus to distinguish sub-zero foods from fresh ones appears to the consumer nothing more than a symbol for 64%, to which is added a 5% who consider it useless.
This is what emerges from the survey carried out by Bva-Doxa for IIAS - Italian Institute of Frozen Foods, to know the opinion of Italians regarding the usefulness of this symbol introduced over forty years ago on jurisprudential guidelines, given that there is no legal obligation on the subject.
"The asterisk is information from a past world that no longer exists, which also rested on the implicit belief that a frozen food was a lower quality product than fresh food - said the Iias president, Giorgio Donegani - an anachronistic concept that ends up penalizing To understand how wrong this idea is, just remember that frozen foods are so technologically advanced as to keep intact all the nutritional qualities of the fresh product; in fact they undergo an ultra-rapid freezing in which they reach -18 ° C in a very short time, determining the formation of micro-crystals. of water that leave the product almost intact. On the other hand, a fresh product, such as a vegetable consumed a few days after harvesting,greatly reduces its nutrient content. As for domestic consumption, the consumption of frozen foods in 2020 exceeded 15 kg of per capita consumption per year for the first time. Furthermore, 92% of Italians declare that they use them when the analogue fresh ones are not available or in season and they do so especially when it comes to vegetables (25%) ". (ANSA).