As a wide variety of breads with health claims are becoming available on retail shelves, FSSAI has decided to pull the strings and tighten the labelling norms for breads.
Furthermore, beginning in May of next year, bread manufacturers must ensure that a product labelled as whole wheat bread contains at least 75% whole wheat flour and brown bread contains at least 50% whole wheat flour.
Similarly, companies and bakeries will need to ensure that the flour used to make multi-grain bread consists of a certain minimum amount of grains other than wheat.
The official notification said that the minimum amount of specialty ingredients (grains other than wheat) in the case of multigrain bread shall be a minimum of 10 percent in the first year of enforcement and, thereafter, it shall be 20 percent.
As a matter of fact, for the first time, the food regulator has also notified standards for specialty breads. In such products, companies use specialty ingredients as a prefix to the term “bread” on the labels. For example, in the case of oatmeal bread, the flour used to make the product must contain at least 15% oats per 100 gm. Similarly, protein-enriched bread must have at least 15% edible protein content in the flour (on a 100 gm basis).
Various companies and bakeries choose to market their breads using the names of specific ingredients on the labels. The regulations make it mandatory for them to meet the basic thresholds of such ingredients in the consumer interest. For example, fruit bread must have a minimum of 10 per cent candied fruit content, and milk bread must have 6 per cent milk.
Norms have been notified for garlic bread, honey bread, milk bread, cheese bread, raisin bread, rye bread, and bran bread, among others. These standards are part of the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Second Amendment Regulations, 2022.This regulation will bring more clarity for the industry as well as consumers. Companies that have been mislabeling their products will need to either modify their labels or their products to be able to adhere to these regulations. This will enable consumers to make better choices.