Ref. : ER/Bread/GH-dG

Bread : 20 Brands Tested
Which Ones to Buy? Why?

Insight — The Consumer Magazine of Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS), Ahmedabad, has published the test findings of its in-house comparative product testing laboratory on 20 brands of bread. Only six brands conformed to the Standards.

The 20 brands comprised 14 of white bread, two of milk bread, and four of wheatmeal bread. Overall, among the five conforming brands of white bread, Modern Special and Super Sandwich scored the highest (86 each), followed by Britannia Premium Bake (85), Modern Premium (83), and Satyam Golden Crust (75).

Among the four brands of wheatmeal bread tested, only Modern Kissan conformed to the Standards with a score of 84. Neither of the two milk bread brands — Kalory Milky Gold and Super Milky — conformed to the Standards.

‘The Best Buy’
For the ‘Best Buy’, based on the overall score and the price, INSIGHT has recommended Modern Special and Super Sandwich in the white bread category, and Modern Kissan in the wheatmeal bread category.

Labelling
The most vital information for consumers, the ‘Best Before date’ and the date of manufacturing / packing was withheld on the packs of 12 brands. They were nine white breads, one milk bread and two wheatmeal breads.

Chemical Tests
The breads were tested for chemical parameters such as total solid content, pH of aqueous extract, alcoholic acidity, ash, acid insoluble ash, crude fibre, and sorbic acid against the specifications under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1955, (mandatory) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The breads were also put to sensory tests for baking, texture, softness, slice quality, slice thickness, freshness, crumb colour, presence of foreign matter and the taste.

Microbial Limits
Even in the absence of standards covering microbial contamination in India for bread, owing to its importance on the consumer health, the laboratory tested all the brands for total bacterial count, yeast/mould count, coliform count and E.coli as per the Canadian Standards for Bakery Products.

Coliforms: The presence of coliforms (a type of bacteria) indicates possible faecal contamination of human or animal origin. Among wheatmeal breads, Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) had 54 colony forming units per gram (cfu/g), thereby failing to be within the prescribed limit of 50cfu/g.

Total Bacterial Count: The total bacterial count is the number of live bacteria in a food item. The higher the number, the higher are the chances of spoilage which may lead to diseases. Against a total bacterial count of 50,000 cfu/g, Italian Sandwich, Oven Fresh, Fresh’N’Fresh, Kalory Vital Brown, Super Brown and Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) showed nearly more than double the acceptable limits.

Yeast/Mould count: Yeast and mould are responsible for many types of food spoilage before and during the processing. Against the acceptable count of 500cfu/g, seven white breads - Satyam Golden Crust, Kalory White, Aabad Continental, Italian Sandwich, Oven Fresh, Fresh ‘N’ Fresh and Upper Crust - showed very high figures in their counts. Three wheatmeal breads, too, - Kalory Vital Brown, Super Brown and Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) - did not conform to this parameter.

E.coli count: E. coli (Escherichia coli), a species of coliform group of bacteria, may cause gastro-enteritis and urinary tract infections. Among all the breads Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) in the wheatmeal bread category, failed to conform to the requirement of ‘absent’ in 0.1 g as per the standards proposed by the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore.

Is the Weight Right?
According to the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977, a variation of up to 8 per cent on the labelled weight is permissible for a packet of bread up to and equal to 400 gm, which works out to 32 gm. This means, a packet of bread up to 400 gm should not weigh less than 368 gm.

Two packets out of four of Aabad Continental weighed less than 368 gm and the other two packets weighed less than the labelled weight of 400 gm. Three brands — Empire Sandwich, Maruti White and Kalory Vital Brown did not give the labelled weight. CERS proposes to take action against such manufacturers on grounds of ‘unjust enrichment’.

The laboratory also tested the brands for nutritional value of bread covering the amounts of fat, protein, carbohydrate, sodium, calcium, and energy (calorie content). The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) per day, put forth by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), for moderately active people, takes into account men weighing 60 kg and women 50 kg. Helping the consumer choose from among the white bread, brown bread and wheatmeal bread, the three categories have been explained in the magazine.

Brands Tested
In the white bread category, the brands tested were Modern Special, Super Sandwich, Britannia Premium Bake, Modern Premium, Satyam Golden Crust, Empire Sandwich, Maruti White, Monginis Sandwich, Kalory White, Aabad Continental, Italian Sandwich, Oven Fresh, Fresh ‘N’ Fresh, and Upper Crust.

In the milk bread category, we selected Kalory Milky Gold and Super Milky.

In the wheatmeal category, we tested Modern Kissan, Kalory Vital Brown, Super Brown, and Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat).
As a policy, before publishing the results we convey the test findings to all the manufacturers for their views and comments. They receive only the results of their own products. The manufacturers of Maruti White, Kalory White, Italian Sandwich, Oven Fresh, Fresh ‘N’ Fresh, Upper Crust, Kalory Milky Gold and Kalory Vital Brown did not respond till the time of our going to press.

Details of rating and ranking, the‘Best Buy’ and excerpts of our correspondence with the manufacturers have been published in the November-December 2004 issue of Insight - The Consumer Magazine.

Date : 28/01/2005
Place : Ahmedabad

Pritee Shah
Editor
INSIGHT - The Consumer Magazine

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Opinions, test results and research findings issued through this Press Release cannot be used in any form directly or indirectly for advertising, promotional or commercial purpose.

CONSUMER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY
“Suraksha Sankool”, Thaltej, Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway, Ahmedabad- 380 054 (INDIA)
Phone: 079-27489945-46 Fax: 079-27489947
E-mail: cerc@wilnetonline.net
Web Site: http://www.cercindia.org
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