Dubai: What type of bread you eat has more salt? A first-of-its-kind study on the salt content of bread in Dubai can now give you the answer.
According to the study conducted by two experts from the Dubai Central Laboratory under Dubai Municipality, burger buns have the highest level of sodium among 163 samples of different types of breads collected for the study.
The categories of bread used for the study included white Arabic bread, brown Arabic bread, bran bread, rusk, toasted bread, frozen buns, burger buns, muffins, plain bread, bread rolls etc.
Among these samples, the highest content of sodium was found in burger bun, followed by frozen bread, white bread and brown bread.
The lowest sodium content was found in rusk and plain bread samples.
All the bread samples have met the GSO specification of salt content of up to 1.5% of dry weight set by the GCC Standardisation Organisation.
However, this limit is considered relatively high when compared with the specifications of other countries, the experts who conducted the study said on Tuesday.
The study was conducted by two experts –Iftekhar Ahmad Mohammad and Baheiya Mohammad –from the Food Chemical Analysis Unit of Dubai Central Laboratory (DCL) under Dubai Municipality.
Their study was presented at the 11th Dubai International Food Safety Conference that concluded on Tuesday.
Campaign to cut salt
Iftekhar Ahmad Mohammad, principal food chemical analyst, told Gulf News that the study was conducted following a request from the Food Safety Department which has been pushing bakeries in Dubai to reduce the salt content in breads.
The department had launched a campaign urging bakeries in hypermarkets to reduce the sodium level in bread and other in-house products to encourage healthy food habits among the residents.
Bread is the single biggest contributor of salt to our daily diet. It is estimated that 34% of salt consumed daily comes from bread.
High salt diets result in high blood pressure leading to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
“Though all the samples had met the GSO standard specification, this limit is considered relatively high when it is compared with the specifications of other countries. This should be reviewed,” said Iftekhar.
He pointed out that fresh traditional breads are rarely labelled with nutritional information, making it difficult for the consumers to know the salt content.
“Bakeries making traditional breads should carry nutritional labels to help consume make informed choices,” the expert said, adding that such a recommendation will be put forward to the Food Safety Department for implementation.
