Of course, we’re talking about fresh pasta like the long supple strands of tagliatelle or soft doughy pockets of ravioli here, not packets of dry pasta that feature a best-if-used-by date.

At a time when many avenues are being explored to reduce food waste – whether by eliminating expiration dates or recycling leftovers – the researchers managed to preserve fresh pasta for up to three months by adjusting the recipe as well as the packaging.

Generally, fresh pasta undergoes a treatment similar to pasteurization to be preserved. Companies can also add additives in order to allow them to keep longer in a refrigerator.

For this study, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, which used a short thin twisted pasta called trofie, the research involved adding probiotic strains to maintain the pasta’s taste quality longer.

The growth of bacteria was actually inhibited by the presence of these live probiotic strains. Pasta is not naturally endowed with probiotics, unlike kimchi or miso, said to be beneficial for our intestinal flora.

However, in the case of this Italian research, it is not exclusively the use of probiotics that has proven to be effective.

Rather, it was the combination of these microorganisms with the use of a new packaging process.

The scientists also changed the ratio of gases used in this “modified atmosphere packaging” (MAP), the principle of which is to eliminate oxygen and replace it with other gases. In this instance, they increased the carbon dioxide content ratio and decreased the nitrogen content ratio.