THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007 20:49 MECCA TIME, 17:49 GMT

Italians asked to boycott pasta

Consumer groups gave away free pasta and other products at a protest in Rome [Reuters] Italians have taken part in a one-day pasta boycott in protest at a rise in the price of their favourite dish sparked by a global crisis in wheat prices.   The cost of wheat has risen by almost 50 per cent in the past year, as droughts in Australia and Canada cut production, pushing global stockpiles towards a 26-year low. Consumer groups say the price rises are due to middlemen, while farmers' earnings stay the same, activists said at protests in Rome, Milan and Palermo.   "Pasta, bread, milk - these are the most important things. We are not protesting for perfumes or jewels," said, Marisa, at a Rome protest. Campaigners have called on the government to intervene to stop the price rise.   Clemente Mastella, the Italian justice minister, had promised to support the cause by skipping his favourite Neapolitan dish of pasta tubes stuffed with tomatoes and ricotta cheese.   But there were few signs of his compatriots making a similar sacrifice at lunchtime, with hungry workers eating their usual pasta dishes at Rome restaurants that ignored the boycott.   Carlo Pileri, of the ADOC consumer group, said: "The pasta strike is symbolic, a call for Italians to make a sacrifice - to sacrifice something we can't give up, even when we travel abroad."

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies