Turkish bread becomes smaller, healthier, price remain uncertain

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Less salt and more bran will be the recipe for Turkish bread in the future. Hürriyet photo

Turkish bread, the most consumed staple, will be sold in smaller loaves containing less salt and more bran, but it is unclear whether there will be a change in prices.

“The price of bread in Ankara will decrease,” said Halil Ibrahim Balci, head of the Turkish Bakers Federation, adding that the prices have not changed for the last 18 months, according to the Anatolia news agency.

The maximum salt proportion a loaf of bread contains will be cut down to 1.5 percent from 1.75 percent, while bran proportions will be between 0.65 and 1.1 percent, and the standard loaf is reduced to 250 grams from 300 grams, according to a government directive published by the Official Gazette Jan. 4.
Before this directive the maximum limit of bran proportion was at 1 percent and no minimum limit was determined. The minimum weight of all kinds of bread was determined to be 250 grams by the directive.

Claiming 5 million loaves of bread were wasted every day.