Bakery and confectionery are expected to usher in a new definition and product identification will be improved

Recently, the China Bakery and Confectionery Industry Association issued a notice
on soliciting opinions on GB 7099 "National Food Safety Standard Pastry and Bread".
According to the Draft for Comments, bread and pastries are expected to usher in a new definition, the detection range of acid price and peroxide value may be extended to products containing nuts and seeds, products with live probiotics are recommended to identify the name of the strain and the number of viable bacteria, and the restrictions on product raw materials and forms will be relaxed to a certain extent to meet the needs of
industry innovation and development.

"Bread" "Pastry" definition update

According to the previous Notice of the General Office of the National Health Commission on Printing and Distributing the 2020 National Food Safety Standard Project Plan, GB 7099 "National Food Safety Standard Pastry and Bread" was included in the national food safety standard revision project plan
.
The relevant project standard drafting working group was established at the end of 2020, and standard workshops
were held in January 2021 and November 2022 respectively.

The Draft revises
the definitions of pastry and bread.
The definition of pastry may be revised to "food made from one or more of cereals (and/or legumes, potatoes) and their products, oils and fats, eggs and egg products, etc.
, with or without other ingredients, and food made by preparation, molding, cooking, etc.
, and food with other ingredients added between products (or on the surface or inside) before and/or after cooking"
。 Bread may be revised to "food made with wheat flour and/or other grain products as the main raw material, with or without yeast and other ingredients, through stirring, fermentation, shaping, proofing, baking, etc.
, and food with other ingredients added on the surface or inside of the product before or after baking"
.

It is recommended to label the culture and viable number of bacteria

The company implements the GB/T 20981-2021 "General Principles of Bread Quality" standard and GB/T 20977-2007 "General Rules for Pastry" standards, and does not violate the national standard GB 7099-2015 "Pastry and Bread" standards
.
The person in charge of the baking business of Bright Dairy told the Beijing News reporter that there are currently many
baking enterprises that implement the GB 7099-2015 "pastry and bread" standard.
For pastry companies, although product labels are more inclined to label GB/T 20977-2007 and GB/T 20981-2021, GB 7099-2015 as its important supporting standards, some health indicators are indispensable
.

As probiotics are used in more and more products, the test results for the total number of colonies in such products include the number of viable bacteria and do not represent a true indicator of the total number of colonies, so the draft adds "not applicable to products with added active bacteria (aerobic and facultative anaerobic)"
.
For coliforms, the draft proposes that "products that are no longer cooked after adding fermented ingredients" or "products that are not cooked after adding fresh fruits and vegetables" should also be tested
.

The release of these standards will play a key role in industry norms, by displaying the form of strains, viable bacteria and other signs on product labels, to facilitate consumers to understand the characteristics and advantages of products, but also to make product manufacturers more rigorous, so that the public becomes a part
of supervising product quality.