The el-dente style of standards

Although outside of NISO’s normal remit, I thought I’d provide some interesting fun for a rainy fall Monday.  ISO has just announced the publication of a standard on “state of the art” cooking of pasta.  From the release:

ISO 7304-2:2008 – Alimentary pasta produced from durum wheat semolina – Estimation of cooking quality by sensory analysis – Part 2: Routine methoddescribes a test method for laboratories to determine a minimum of cooking time for pasta.” “This International Standard specifies a method for assessing, by sensory analysis, the quality of cooked alimentary pasta in the form of long, solid strands (e.g. spaghetti) or short, hollow strands (e.g. macaroni) produced from durum wheat semolina, expressed in terms of the starch release, liveliness and firmness characteristics (i.e. texture) of the pasta.”

I know at least one of my college roommates who could have benefited from the advice this standard could provide.  I am sure that the development of this standards was … tasty.