Pizza Oven Supplier Welcomes Ban on Wet Wood

Valoriani UK, the UK-based arm of Tuscan pizza oven manufacturers and specialists, Valoriani, has come out in support of new legislation that will see a ban on ‘wet wood’ being introduced from 2021.

The Preston headquartered family firm, which supplies pizza ovens to restaurant owners, hotels, takeaways, top chefs, and homeowners wanting a little taste of the Mediterranean in their garden or kitchen, believes the ban will encourage pizza oven buyers to question the environmental credentials of their pizza oven, in a way not happening at present.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ has announced that traditional coal and wet wood will be phased out from 2021, to reduce emissions of the polluting particulate PM2.5.  Anyone distributing or selling wet wood will be doing so illegally as from next year.

DEFRA is also the body regulating woodfired pizza ovens and determining which burn wood in a compliant, efficient manner, for legal operation in Smoke Control Areas in London and across the UK.  All Valoriani ovens have official DEFRA certification but many of the pizza ovens available in the market do not.  Their owners are often unaware that they are illegal to use in a clean-air controlled area.

In recent years, there have been cases of environmental health officers shutting ovens down.  For a business, that can be highly detrimental, often leading to several weeks in which the oven cannot be operated whilst tests are completed, costs associated with testing and inspection and, potentially, a fine. Valoriani suspects more inspections will accompany the tightening of clean-air regulation.

Valoriani oven owners will be completely unaffected by the new ban on wet wood, if they use ready-to-burn, Woodsure-mark wood from suppliers like Logs Direct, who Valoriani UK recommends.  

“No pizza oven owner should be buying ‘wet wood’ from garages, farms or other suppliers,” say Valoriani UK’s Andrew Manciocchi.  “This is wood with a high moisture content of between 60% and 90%, because it has not been seasoned.  A pizza oven will only operate efficiently if kiln-dried, or ready-to-burn wood as it is now becoming known, is used.  This has a moisture content of under 20% and does not emit the dangerous particulates that are the focus of the new wet wood legislation.

“Using wet wood makes no sense for a chef, regardless of whether they are a professional or a keen home cook.  This type of wood smokes terribly, spits and is inefficient in terms of its burn. This creates unreliable, fluctuating oven temperatures and greatly affects the quality of the cooked food, as well as its taste.  It can also create food contamination.  This is why we always point people towards Logs Direct’s Piccante range of compressed logs, which are food-safe and offer a great culinary performance in the oven.”

Burning wet wood can also be harmful to a pizza oven and its flue, generating liquid tar that is drawn into the flue, where it can form highly combustible creosote deposits.

Valoriani UK definitely sees the new legislation as a positive, not a negative for the wood-fired pizza community and also expects to see a strong boost to sales because of the impending ban on wet wood.

“We are finally seeing some education of consumers on the issue of wet wood and emissions,” says Dino Manciocchi.  “Those equipment suppliers who have claimed only electric or gas ovens are the way forward, will have to rethink that. This legislation is highlighting that wood in general is not the issue, just the use of the wrong wood. 

“We also hope pizza oven buyers will place more focus on DEFRA certification.  Currently, we see commercial customers buying non-regulated ovens and then paying between £6000 and £10000 to fit filtration systems to mask wood smoke and attempt to divert attention from the fact they are operating an illegal oven.  These systems do not make the oven compliant and are literally a smokescreen to try to avoid an environmental health inspection.  

“These operators are buying what they think is a bargain oven but then finding filtration bumps up the cost to more than they would have paid for a DEFRA certificated oven. Even then, they still aren’t necessarily compliant and environmental health officers could still shut them down, whilst it is assessed whether or not the emissions are legal.”

Valoriani UK is hopeful that consumers will quickly get to grips with the environmental situation, having already witnessed an enhanced level of consumer awareness in the commercial pizza oven sector with regard to what represents quality and why you get what you pay for.  Having gone through a painful and costly learning curve, resulting in an oven disintegrating after a very short period of time, restaurants, in particular, are getting it right second time around and questioning the materials used in their oven’s construction, the expertise that went into manufacture and some ovens’ poor record of performance.

“The market is becoming increasingly aware of what makes a robust and compliant pizza oven capable operating in a commercial environment,” says Dino.  “That has to be good news for those wanting the most out of their capital expenditure.”

More information about Valoriani’s compliant DEFRA-certificated ovens can be found at www.valorianiuk.com

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Editors notes

Valoriani UK is the UK arm of Valoriani, based in Reggello, Tuscany - the manufacturer of Italy's hugely respected Valoriani pizza ovens, known as the Rolls Royce of pizza ovens and the kings of clay. These ovens are made from superb refractory clay - cotto clay - found in the family's quarry and unique, thanks to having just the right alumina. This allows Valoriani ovens to heat up quickly and retain heat superbly. Consequently, Valoriani's home garden ovens (built-in and mobile) and kitchen ovens, and its range of restaurant and mobile/street-food ovens are best in class and the choice of leading chefs and celebrities.