ISO launches new spaghetti standard

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has launched a new standard to determine a minimum cooking time for durum wheat pasta, using sensory analysis.

Called ISO 7304-2, the standard is suitable for spaghetti and macaroni made from durum wheat. It assesses quality of cooked pasta in terms of starch release and “liveliness and firmness” – otherwise known as texture.

The cooking has to be repeated until a continuous white line in the centre of the crushed strand or crushed section disappears.

The standard is said to complete another standard published in 1985, IS 7304-1, which is used to estimate cooking quality of spaghetti.