Evaluating the Quality of Bread; Based on the Amount of Salt and Baking Soda Consumption

Abstract

Introduction: Bread is an unavoidable food ingredient in Iranian meals. Given the relationship between salt and baking soda and several diseases, this study aimed to investigate the role of bread and its effect on increasing additives (salt and baking soda) and comparing them to standards.
 Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all bakeries (95 bakeries) of Garmsar county were selected and sampled from consumed bread (Taftoon; 125, Barbari; 168, Lavash; 48 and, Sangak; 22 samples) and were sent to the Food and Drug Laboratory. The samples were tested according to the National Standards of Iran (No. 2628) method. Descriptive statistics and dispersion, Skewness and Kurtosis, and Spearman correlation were used to evaluate the results. The outcomes of the measures were analyzed using Excel and SPSS software version 22).
 Results: Comparison of the results of this study with Iranian standards showed that 16.3 and 66.7% of all bread samples, respectively, had the amount of salt and pH in the range of national standards. Barbari had the highest mean salt intake (1.47 ± 0.37), and Lavash had the highest mean pH (6.13 ± 0.36). Significant and reverse correlation was observed between salt intake and pH in Barbari (p = 0.041, r = -0.158) and lavash (p = 0.022, r = - 0.329) samples. The results also showed that the type of additive to increase yeast activity was different according to the type of bread. 
 Conclusions: Bread can play a significant role in increasing the intake of salt and baking soda daily. As a result, bread is a potential source of these additives, and it is recommended that the amount of these substances be controlled to prevent a variety of diseases associated with salt and baking soda.

Reshaping Food Systems to improve Nutrition and Health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

“…A low compliance rate with the latest national standard for salt in bread was also found in samples (n=59) taken in 95 bakeries in the county of Garmsar in Northern Iran, with only 16.3% containing <1% of salt. The mean salt content was 1.37% with variations between the four bread types analysed (Abolli et al, 2021). In another study, the salt content of various industrially and nonindustrially produced processed foods including tomato paste and sauces, canned vegetables, pickles and nuts was evaluated, with samples taken in 2016 and 2018 to compare the findings.…”

“…A study in Iran found that lower use of salt in bread was associated with a higher use of baking soda to account for the consequent problems with bread texture and to compensate for the low quality of wheat flour. Baking soda has been found to reduce the absorption of minerals like calcium and iron, promote the uptake of heavy metals, and destroy vitamins like thiamine and riboflavin (Abolli et al, 2021). Bakers often lack awareness about the negative effects of high salt intake and the technical know-how to reduce salt content in bread without loss of quality.…”