On January 3rd, pasta brand Ronzoni announced it would be discontinuing one of its most popular products, Ronzoni’s pastina pasta.
If it’s been a staple comfort food in your life, or makes up a major part of your kid’s diet, this is truly terrible news. But if it’s any consolation, the product is still available in many stores — at least for now.
“We hear you and greatly appreciate your love for Ronzoni pastina,” Ronzoni shared in a January 3rd Instagram post. “After extensive efforts, we regretfully announce that Ronzoni Pastina is being discontinued. This wasn’t a decision that we wanted to make.”
“We searched extensively for an alternative solution but were unable to identify a viable option to make Pastina in the same beloved small shape, size, and standards you have come to expect from Ronzoni,” the statement continued. “As a result, we had to make the difficult decision to discontinue this product.”
The company’s reason for discontinuing the product isn’t because of low sales. Sadly, there’s an issue with its supplier, who informed Ronzoni that they would no longer produce the pasta as of January 2023.
It’s clear that the discontinuation of the popular pasta is hitting people hard. In fact, consumers have had such a difficult time believing the news to be true that Snopes, the internet’s definitive fact-checking resource, had to weigh in and confirm the sad news.
But that isn’t stopping the die-hards. Currently, there are at least seven different petitions on change.org aimed at trying to save the tiny, star-shaped pasta.
But sadly, while the company has left the door slightly open for the product to return one day, for now, what’s on the shelves is all there is.
While it may seem silly to some that people are legitimately devastated by the news that Ronzoni is no longer making its pastina, others have found comfort in the food since they were a child, or if it’s one of the only foods their kiddo will eat, the panic can be real.
What will happen when your kid asks for buttered pastina, or you have to make chicken noodle soup without their favorite star-shaped noodles floating in the broth?
As of this writing, there’s still stock available online. So, while there are already people hoarding what little stock they can find, if you act now, you could get lucky.
Pastina alternatives are available, as other pasta brands make a similar product. These include De Cecco Stellette Pasta, Barilla Pastina, and Flicetti Stelline Pasta. So after you and your child’s pastina mourning period is up, there are other boxes to try. It won’t be the same, but, hey, so it goes.