A new law, coming into force today, Monday,
controlling the quality of bread, means you will get what it says on the label
and will pay less for quality bread.
The new norm aims to cut out false claims by bread manufacturers, particularly
about “sour dough” and wholemeal bread.
The law requires that “whole meal” bread is made 100% from wholemeal flour and
defines “sourdough” by limiting the use of industrial yeast and establishing strict
requirements for the use of the denomination (masa madre in Spanish).
The law also reduces the IVA (VAT) on wholemeal and sourdough products from 10%
to 4%, which should represent considerable savings for the consumer.
The law has been introduced as bread consumption fell to an all-time low in Spain.
It also strictly limits misleading labelling of bread products, such as “wholemeal
bread,” which contains less than 100%, sometimes as low as 2%: and industrially
produced bread being described as “artesan” or sourdough, when it is mass
produced and contains industrial yeast.
