Italian restaurants and pizza outlets are up in arms about plans to build machines to manufacture and vend pizzas across Europe and the U.S.

The pilot machine has been designed and built at the University of Bologna. It creates pizzas by kneading water and flour into dough, covers it with tomato sauce and a selection of toppings, and cooks them utilizing infra-red rays - in less than 3 minutes.

The machines, according to developer Claudio Torghele, have been tested in Germany, and trialed in parts of Italy and proved so successful Italian restaurants and chefs have been angered, saying the machines are an insult to the traditional method of preparing pizzas.

The developer of the 'Let's Pizza' machines however say they are a low-cost alternative to eating out at a restaurant or pizzeria. They will be vended by the machines that make them, will be available 24 hours a day, and because the production and sale of the products will not require labor, will be priced accordingly, he said.