The bread will be more bland from this Friday

The bread will be from this Friday more bland Royal Decree. a new norm bread quality approved in April 2019 that modifies the legal definition of the product as well as that of its varieties, its tax and even reduces the amount of salt in this basic food for the benefit of consumer health.

As is the case with this type of measure, the Government granted manufacturers a adaptation period that It ended on April 1 but has been extended until this Friday, when the bread we buy will be a little more insipid.

The maximum content of salt allowed in common bread, as a finished product, must now be of 1.31 grams per 100 grams of bread (13.1 g of salt per kilogram of bread or the corresponding 0.52 g of sodium per 100 g of bread) if analyzed by determining chlorides or 1.66 grams of salt per 100 grams of bread (16.6 g of salt per kilogram of bread or the corresponding 0.66 g of sodium per 100 g of bread), if analyzed by determining total sodium, according to Royal Decree 308/2019 of April 26, published on May 11 in the BOE.

The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN), within the framework of the NAOS Strategy (Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention), which promotes a healthy diet and lifestyle, had been recommending for years put a maximum salt limit on bread and the bakery sector was already doing it voluntarily to achieve a healthier product for consumers.

The new bread quality standard specifies the specific definition of bread such as those made with sourdough, with wholemeal flours, cereals or seeds other than wheat or artisan production.

“We have to transmit our culture through bread”, proclaims Samuel Moreno, chef of the Molino de Alcuneza, in Sigüenza, while showing his sourdough, the flour ground by Carlos Moreno in his Despelta factory, a bowl of water and salt. With these four elements, Samuel makes his loaves, the first processed food to be consumed by man, however it was later marginalized in the spectacular culinary revolution that has placed Spain at the top of the world in gastronomy.

We eat a very bad bread, excessively refined and full of sugars and proteins that trigger the glycemic index, laments Samuel with Carlos before entering the mill where the grain is stone pulverized to obtain wholemeal flours, nutritious and not very stressed, as established by the new bread quality regulations that oblige bakers to use only whole-grain wheat flour for whole-grain bars to conserve carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fiber, the vitamins, the minerals, the enzymes and the flavor of this thousand-year-old essential food in the shopping basket.

A study by the University of Valladolid revealed that only 35% of the breads sold as wholemeal were made with one hundred percent wholemeal flour. From the entry into force of the new standard the label must indicate the denomination, together with the name and percentages of the cereal and of the seeds that it carries as well as the origin of the flours.

In some supermarkets we find bars that have had the pericarp removed, the part of the wheat that covers the seed, and the germ of the grain “And so we only eat sugar and protein,” says Samuel in the fragrant oven of the Molino de Alcuneza, where no industrial yeast enters and feed your sourdough with flour and water that degrades gluten, a protein that can cause digestive damage.