04 February 2004 10:54
Complaints rise in Russian republic over "substandard" bread
Saransk, 4 February: One loaf of bread in four purchased by the residents of Mordovia is substandard. That is the
worrying conclusion reached after numerous checks by officials from the republic's trading standards
inspectorate.
Inspectorate chief Tatyana Kozyukovaya says that, over the past year, 22.7 per cent of bakery products checked were
found to be substandard. The figure was lower in 2002, at 20.3 per cent.
"The number of complaints about poor bread quality from the public, who say the bread is doughy and seems not
fit for sale, increased sharply from October 2003, when local bakers started using poor-quality flour from the new
harvest," Kozyukovaya said.
The ministry of agriculture and food in Mordovia says that last year, despite poor weather, the republic had a fair
grain harvest of some 820,000 t (it was over 1m tonnes in 2002). However, a sizeable part of that grain was of poor
quality, mostly used for fodder.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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