Evaluating the Quality of Bread; Based on the Amount of Salt and Baking Soda Consumption

Abstract

Introduction: Bread is an unavoidable food ingredient in Iranian meals. Given the relationship between salt and baking soda and several diseases, this study aimed to investigate the role of bread and its effect on increasing additives (salt and baking soda) and comparing them to standards.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all bakeries (95 bakeries) of Garmsar county were selected and sampled from consumed bread (Taftoon; 125, Barbari; 168, Lavash; 48 and, Sangak; 22 samples) and were sent to the Food and Drug Laboratory. The samples were tested according to the National Standards of Iran (No. 2628) method. Descriptive statistics and dispersion, Skewness and Kurtosis, and Spearman correlation were used to evaluate the results. The outcomes of the measures were analyzed using Excel and SPSS software   version 22).

Results: Comparison of the results of this study with Iranian standards showed that 16.3 and 66.7% of all bread samples, respectively, had the amount of salt and pH in the range of national standards. Barbari had the highest mean salt intake (1.47 ± 0.37), and Lavash had the highest mean pH (6.13 ± 0.36). Significant and reverse correlation was observed between salt intake and pH in Barbari (p = 0.041, r = -0.158) and lavash (p = 0.022, r = - 0.329) samples. The results also showed that the type of additive to increase yeast activity was different according to the type of bread. 

Conclusions: Bread can play a significant role in increasing the intake of salt and baking soda daily. As a result, bread is a potential source of these additives, and it is recommended that the amount of these substances be controlled to prevent a variety of diseases associated with salt and baking soda.