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‘Radioactive’ boars roaming northern Italy

Following the discovery of wild boars contaminated with nuclear radiation in the northern Italian Piedmont region earlier in the year, the Ministry of Health has found two more cases, this time near Trieste, over 500km away.

'Radioactive' boars roaming northern Italy
Wild boars contaminated with nuclear radiation are roaming northern Italy. Photo/Piedmontm.prinke/Flickr

Aris Prodani, a local MP for Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement, requested the investigation following the discovery of 27 boars in Piedmont this March,  which were contaminated by radioactive isotope caesium-137, local newspaper Trieste All News reported.

Similar cases have also been reported in Austria and Bavaria, 

The Italian Ministry of Health have now confirmed that two of the boars examined by ARPA, the local Agency for the Protection of the Environment in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, contained over 600 becquerels, the unit for measuring radioactivity, per kilogram. This is the limit above which meat cannot legally be sold commercially. 

The Ministry of Health issued a statement saying that for any danger to be posed, 10-15kg of meat contaminated at a level of 5000bq/kg would have to be eaten annually, a situation they described as “decidedly improbable”. They said “the situation should not arouse excessive worry among the population."

According to ARPA, the contamination is most likely due to fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. "The Ministry has assured us that monitoring of radioactivity is constant, but when it comes to the health of our citizens, it is fundamental to keep our guard up," Prodani was quoted in Trieste All News as saying.

He added that the news should be "a cause for serious reflection on the part of local administrators, who only a few days ago said that nuclear energy was the only way businesses could obtain energy at low costs."

There are currently no nuclear power plants in operation in Italy, and a referendum following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011 led to the cancellation of plans for any new nuclear reactors to be built, but it remains a topic of debate.

The boar enjoys high status in Italy, being both a luxury meat found in many butcher's shops, and the historic symbol for the city of Milan.

Wild boar hunting remains popular, though most hunts take place on private, members-only estates, and the animals are known to be dangerous and occasionally aggressive to humans, particularly when protecting piglets. Most deaths associated with boar-hunting, however, are caused by hunters accidentally shooting another person, and in 2010 an heir to one of Italy's oldest aristocratic families was killed in such an incident.

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FOOD AND DRINK

Do Italians really eat pasta every day?

Pasta is the foundation of Italian cuisine and Italians have a reputation for eating it nearly every day. But is this reality or myth?

Do Italians really eat pasta every day?

Pasta is the cornerstone of Italian cuisine and an essential staple of Italians’ diet, hence the popularity of the adage Toglietemi tutto ma non la pasta! (‘Take everything away from me except pasta’).

But there is a widespread belief among foreign nationals that people in the bel paese eat it every single day of the week. 

Is this reality or myth?

According to a survey from research platform YouGov Italia, ‘only’ 17 percent of Italians eat pasta every day or at least six days a week. 

The majority of Italians (37 percent) consume pasta two to three times a week, while 30 percent say they eat it four to five times a week. 

Finally, 8 percent eat pasta just once a week.

While the survey seems to disprove the claim that Italians generally eat pasta every day (only a minority does), does that mean that they are not as big pasta eaters as we may have originally thought?

Not really. 

Italians are still the leading pasta consumers in the world as the average person in the country eats some 23.1 kilograms of it every year (that’s nearly two kilograms a month).

READ ALSO: Ask an Italian: How do you sauce pasta properly?

For context, people in neighbouring France and Germany only consume 8.3 and 7.9 kg per capita a year, whereas the average American eats about 9 kg every year.

Further, yearly per capita consumption in the UK stands at an average of just 3.5 kg, according to a report from pasta maker Barilla.

So, while they may not have it every day, Italians do eat quite a lot of pasta over the course of a year. 

But how do they never get tired of it? 

One of the main reasons behind Italians’ unbreakable bond with the high-carb food is variety. 

Italians are extremely creative when it comes to pasta and they rarely eat the same dish twice in a row as they like to experiment with a wide range of recipes and sauces.

READ ALSO: Ten golden rules for cooking pasta like an Italian

Further, there are over 350 types of pasta in Italy, which means that you could potentially eat a different pasta shape almost every day of the year.

Another reason why most Italians have pasta multiple times a week is that they tend to eat it in moderation, steering well clear of potential carb overloads. 

While they may have a large, high-calorie pasta dish (for instance, lasagne or pasta al ragù) on weekends or on special occasions, people in the country generally go for lighter recipes and sauces on normal days, with portions generally going from 80 to 120 grams per person.

Also, Italians very rarely eat pasta twice a day, with the majority of people having it for lunch and then opting for a non-carb-based dish in the evening.

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