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Bakery industry in India needs improvements in hygiene and technology
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Saturday, 16 February, 2019, 12 : 00 PM [IST]
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Fiza Nawaz
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In olden days, people stuck to simple foods like chapatis, rice, pulses, corn and bajara (pearl millet) and there was no advancement in food habits as there was no awareness about advance methods of cooking food. But with the passing of time, man demanded a variety in taste, quality and type of food. Thus the birth of the bakery industry.
The bakery sector comprises the largest segment of the food processing sector in India and offers huge potential for growth. In India, there are more than 2,000 organised or semi- organised bakeries producing around 1.3 million tonne of bakery products and 10,00,000 unorganised small-scale bakeries producing 1.7 million tonne.
Bread and biscuits are the most popular bakery items and account for 80% of the total market. Not surprisingly, India is the world’s second-largest producer of biscuits after USA. The bakery industry has achieved third position in generating revenue in the processed food sector. The market size for the industry was estimated to be worth US$7.6 billion in 2015.
India’s bakery products can be divided into three main products viz., bread, biscuits and cakes. Among bakery products, bread and biscuits are the most popular processed ready-to-eat food items in the country. Bread and biscuits account for 84% of the total bakery products produced in the country.
Classification of bakery products
The popular bakery products are being classified as under:
Bread: In modern days, bread is becoming one of the most essential food items in human diet due to its ready availability and considerable nutritive value. It is usually wheat-based and is a popular breakfast item in every family. It is easy to manufacture and cheap as compared to other bakery products.
Biscuits: Biscuits have now become a common item of consumption among all classes of the community. With tea or coffee, a biscuit makes a tasty snack. They are available in different varieties and flavours.
Cake: Cake is a new bakery product compared to the others. It was earlier famous in the Western countries but now becoming popular in other parts of the world too. It is a perishable product made of wheat flour, cream, gel, sugar and milk. It is of two types viz egg cakes and fruit cakes.
Patties: Patties is a bakery product made of wheat flour and other vegetables. It is a savoury product and is found in many types such as simple potato patty, vegetable patty, cheese patty, mushroom patty and non-veg patty.
Burger: Burger is a savoury bakery product. It is made of bun, a patty and various vegetables. Burger is a readymade product available immediately on demand and it needs no time to prepare. It is common among the young generation as an easy on-the-go snack.
Pizza: Pizza is a round-shaped savoury bakery product. It is a common fast food popular among youth and the children. It is made in many flavours such as cheese pizza, onion capsicum pizza and mushroom pizza.
Rusk: Rusk is one of the oldest bakery products which is made of wheat flour and semolina. It has a good shelf life and is a common snack along with tea or milk.
Namkeen: As its name suggests, namkeens are salty in taste and are found in different flavours. Some namkeens are also salty as well as sweet or sour in taste. They are very old bakery products and consumed on large scale all over the country.
Sandwich: Sandwich is a relatively new bakery product, consisting of bread and a vegetarian or non-vegetarian filling. It is a very simple food item with high calorific value.
Trends in the bakery industry
Bakery products are an item of mass consumption in view of their low price and with rapid growth and changing eating habits of people, bakery products have gained popularity among masses. Trends in baking continue toward lighter, healthier products, and those containing allergen-free, organic, and whole-grain ingredients. Interest in inclusions and fortification continues to increase among consumers of baked goods. They include fibre, antioxidants, Omega-3 oils, and vitamin and mineral fortifications.
The use of whole and alternative grains and grain products continues to drive new product development. In response to the demand for products that are free from gluten and other allergens, baked goods using flours made from buckwheat, quinoa, millet, amaranth, flax, corn, rice, sorghum, wild rice, and other non-wheat grains remain a popular trend in baking. These flours offer tastes and textures that are uniquely different from wheat flours, which also serve the trend toward more types of artisan and handcrafted breads.
Key issues that the industry is facing include the need for improvements in hygienic practices as well as technology apart from availability of skilled manpower at all levels of bakery operations. The lack of technology and upgradation in manufacturing and packaging has been a factor affecting industry growth.
Nutrition challenges
Bakery products are an important part of a balanced diet and today, a wide variety of such products can be found on the supermarket shelves. However consumption of bakery foods has also been associated with increased consumption of trans fatty acids. Furthermore, higher consumption of bakery products is associated with higher intake of energy, saturated fats and sugars.
Several studies in both industrialised and developing countries showed that bakery products were highly consumed by children and adults, and provided a considerable portion of energy intake. Another cause of concern is that although bakery products are important ready-to-eat processed foods, the nutritional quality of these products is low because of the inferior nutritional composition of wheat grain per se which is further accentuated with the use of refined flours in their preparations.
With regard to food safety, most bakery items have low water activity (aw), pH, and a validated kill step within the baking process, which will prevent the growth of microorganisms and enable safe storage at ambient temperatures.
(The author is consultant dietitian. She can be contacted at fizanawaz@gmail.com)
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