THE latest carbon copy organisation formally licensed by York Nutritional Laboratories (YNL) will be able to offer its breakthrough allergy testing to 56 million people in Italy - and could eventually spell the end of pasta and pizza diets for thousands of Italians.

Chemical engineer Amanda Wright and Rino Berardi both flew over from their home in Lake Garda to formally sign the agreement with YNL chief executive John Graham at YNL, in Osbaldwick, and speculated about how their work could change a lifetime's eating habits for Latins.

The agreement will ensure that YNL's specialised know-how for testing methods for intolerance in up to 113 foods will be replicated from the Fleming laboratory, in Brescia, and its network of 650 laboratories throughout Italy.

Amanda, now a consultant with Fleming, moved to Italy 11 years ago, and her Italian version of the 1999 Evening Press Business of the Year will be known as York Scienza Della Nutrizione.

She said: "Food allergies have become a hot topic in Italy just lately, with talk about the public taking their health into their own hands.

"We may find that a lot of Italians do have an intolerance to pasta and don't even know it, or if they react to yeast and cheese, that will be the end of pizzas for them!"

The deal follows hot on the heels of last month's agreement for an exact twin company in Austria. Businessman Cristoph Eliskases agreed to a 15-year distribution and authorised testing arrangement under the brand name YorkTEST from near Innsbruck, in order to offer Austria's ten million people the same food intolerance tests.

Amanda, who took her chemical engineering degree at Newcastle Polytechnic before emigrating to Italy, will be a joint director of the new company with Rino, who is the son of Aymo, grandson of Rino and nephew of Aldo, three historic names in Italian tool machine mechanics.

The idea of starting up the YNL tests in Italy came to Amanda when she was home in Britain on holiday at Christmas 2000.

She read an article about YNL and its work, particularly helping asthma and eczema patients as well as a host of other symptoms.

"I was so impressed that I came to York to see what was going on and to explore the possibility of finding a willing laboratory in Italy to come to an agreement on intellectual property rights."

Updated: 09:31 Tuesday, March 12, 2002