Rules updated to ensure all your bread is upper-crust

Bread and water covered by amended regulations to guarantee their excellence.

DUBAI // Consumers will soon get bread guaranteed by law not to be crummy. New regulations governing the quality of staple foodstuffs. from clear labels indicating weight and ingredients to the amount of moisture - were approved yesterday by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The 29 new or amended regulations, which also govern mineral water, energy drinks and halal food, will be in full force by October, said Mohammed Badri, the acting director general of the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology.

The new standards for mass-produced bread were prompted by complaints to the Ministry of Economy about shoddy quality and bread labelled with weights listed incorrectly, Mr Badri said. By October, all mass-produced bread must be labelled with the ingredients and the weight. The moisture level, which affects weight, must be between 30 and 35 per cent, depending on the type of bread, Mr Badri said, and it must be stored at 25°C or lower.

"They are selling based on the weight," he said. "So the things that affect the weight we are controlling, and we will control the things that affect the quality." @Email:[e-mail]