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A healthy topping for baked foods

KOCHI: The Bakers’ Association Kerala (Bake) has tied up with Cargill Flavours, a unit of the Cargill group of international companies, for training in the use of various ingredients in baking, with a view to making quality products that match international standards.

Seven training programmes have already been conducted by the company and more would follow.

The baking procedures and the use of modern equipment would immensely help the sector to optimise the use of raw materials. The company is providing simple techniques that could be followed at the production stage. The use of the right quantity of the appropriate flavours at various stages would make a positive impact on the quality of the product.

Such techniques are being employed by various international companies and the information is being disseminated with a view to helping the bakers in the State, according to Simon George, head of the company’s unit at Bangalore, where the training is provided.

The focus on hygiene, along with improved production practices adopted by the bakers in the State had prepared the ground for cooperation between the company and Bake, said J. Sivakumar, technical head of the flavours unit of the company.

It is not obligatory that the bakers purchase the ingredients marketed by the company. The bakers’ association of Kerala has set a model worth emulating, he said.

Baked products have a very high demand in the State and hence the manufacturing procedures should be updated. On an average, about 7 to 10 litres of flavours are used each day by a baker running a medium-scale bakery business in the State. The State had about 1,000 bakers, according to him. Maintaining hygienic practices and the use of ingredients conforming to food safety standards would go a long way in ensuring the health of consumers, he said. Bake has already initiated awareness programmes for giving up harmful colours in their products.

Colours that do not comply with the accepted food-safety standards are inadvertently used by some bakers, according to P.M. Sankaran, president of Bake.

The association has introduced a programme called Bakefit which envisages certification for hygienic practices followed by the bakers. The procedure involves inspection of kitchens by the association’s team as well as officials of the government.

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