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Bread packing & storage vital for a longer shelf life
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Saturday, 02 September, 2006, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ketan Thakkar, Mumbai
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available for consumption. Though bread is not a staple food in the country, its consumption has increased over the years. In India it is still a secondary staple food when compared to chapatti, puri or rice.
Bread is generally a highly perishable item, which has a shelf life of maximum of 72 hrs in a tropical country like India. The government has made it mandatory to stamp the date and time of manufacture and the date and time of expiry on the packet. Therefore, once the bread is baked and packed, any baker will make it a point that it reaches the market at the earliest.
Bread can be classified into two forms; one is normal bread and the other sliced bread. Normal bread is usually sold loose, but the sliced bread has been packed in different form of packages through the years.
The history of sliced bread goes back to the 60's when Britannia set up its own semi-automatic bread plant in Mumbai city to initiate a huge sliced bread industry in the country. Following in its footsteps, a number of organised players like Aryan, Modern Bread, WIBS Bread (Western India Bakers Pvt. Ltd.) entered the organised sliced bread industry in the country.
Being perishable in nature, packaging and logistics arrangement are the two most important factors in the bread business. Packaging of the bread has evolved greatly over the years; from being packed in normal papers it is today available in a variety of aesthetic packages.
When the sliced bread industry came into existence, it was available in normal paper packages and wax-coated paper packages. Wax-coated paper packages were the most preferred medium as it had the capacity to soak in extra oil (Vanaspati), which maintained the overall packaging outlook of the bread. And again wax-coated paper package was capable of maintaining the moisture in the bread, which resulted in better shelf life of the product as against normal paper packages.
Though it provided various advantages, the wax-coated paper package had its drawbacks. It tended to open up in more humid conditions and due to this it resulted in the packages getting infected by ants and insects through unsealed portions.
This led to the emergence of polythene packages in the sliced bread industry in the year 2000 and it is the most commonly found package today. Though it is more costly than the traditional wax-coated paper packages, it is the safest packaging medium, which offers numerous benefits.
The polythene-packaged bread not only offered safe and fully sealed packed product, but also offered the producers an opportunity to create a variety of aesthetic packages to lure the consumers. Transparent packages are also used where the product is visible to the customers in order to create confidence in their mind. However, even today some of the leading bakers in the city use the traditional wax-coated paper packages.
Once packed, a baker has to ensure that all packages are kept at a cool and dry place, which is non-infected by insects or rodents. Logistics plays a key role in the bread industry, as the proper logistic support enables the producer to transport his products in the market at the right time. A producer has to see that all the pack are stacked in solid containers - steel or plastic crates - in order to avoid compression of bread (reduction of volume) during transportation.
In case of bulk transport, producers can make use of trucks and tempos, and in case of smaller deliveries to the retail shops, the producer can use smaller tempos and bicycles. A producer also has to make sure that all vehicles are thermal proof, so that the bread is maintained at a lower temperature. All the products should be transported preferably in the night in order to avoid the heat and humidity and also the traffic delays.
Even after the product reaches the retail outlets, the producer has to educate the retailer to keep the bread away from direct sunlight. On keeping it in direct contact with the bright sunlight, bread starts sweating which may result in fungus formation.
Nothing is better than a freshly baked loaf of bread. Bread is best the day it is baked.
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