Wait! Is the bread you eat safe?

After bottled drinking water and cold drinks, it is the quality of branded bread which is suspect.

Laboratory tests conducted on 20 brands of bread by a consumer rights non-governmental organisation have revealed that only six conformed to the standards. Besides, as many as 12 brands did not carry the 'best before' date.

The tests were conducted by the Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Society  in its in-house comparative product testing laboratory. The 20 brands chosen included 14 of white bread, two of milk bread and four of wheatmeal bread.

Of the 14 white bread brands, only five conformed to the standards. Among them, Modern Special and Super Sandwich scored the highest points (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, said a press note issued by the CERS.

The most vital information for consumers, the 'best before date' and the date of manufacturing and packing was withheld on the packs of 12 brands -- nine white breads, one milk bread and two wheatmeal breads.

The 20 bread brands tested by the laboratory included 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 (all white bread); Kalory Milky Gold and Super Milky (milk bread); and Modern Kissan, Kalory Vital Brown, Super Brown, and Satyam Golden Crust in the wheat meal bread category.

The laboratory also carried out the total bacterial count (live bacteria) which indicates the chances of spoilage, leading to possible health disorders.

Against a total permissible bacterial count of 50,000 colony forming units per gram (cfu/g), the brands like Italian Sandwich, Oven Fresh, Fresh 'N' Fresh, Kalory Vital Brown, Super Brown and Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) contained more than double the acceptable limit.

In the case of yeast and mould count, responsible for many types of food spoilage before and during the processing, the acceptable limit is 500 cfu/g.

As many as seven white breads showed a far higher count than this. These included Satyam Golden Crust, Kalory White, Aabad Continental, Italian Sandwich, Oven Fresh, Fresh 'N' Fresh and Upper Crust.

Besides, three wheatmeal breads -- Kalory Vital Brown, Super Brown and Satyam Golden Crust (wheat) -- did not conform to this parameter. Where weight is concerned, the Standards of Weights and Measures Rules, 1977, allow a variation of up to 8 per cent on the labelled figure for bread packets of up to 400 gm.

This means, a packet of 400 gm bread 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 mention the weight on the label.