'Big joke’: Social media influencer FoodPharma takes on major brown bread brands in India

Revant Himatsingka, known as FoodPharma on social media, has said that bread in India is a “big joke”. The social media influencer earlier gained attention for accusing Bournvita of having high sugar content, leading to a legal notice from Cadbury.

“Bread in India is a big joke! There are two types of bread in India. One which is openly unhealthy (white bread), and the second type (brown, multigrain, wholewheat) which pretend to be healthy when they are not!” wrote FoodPharma.

“Till a few decades ago, bread wasn’t as common in India. But now it is commonly used by Indians for breakfast sandwiches, school tiffin, and snacks! If you have 2 slices of bread a day, you have more than 700 slices in a year. Make sure you pick the right one!” he added.

FoodPharma mentions brown breads in India use caramel colour for making it brown instead of using whole wheat (atta). He says that it is a similar kind of colouring used in Coca Cola and Bournvita.

Also Read: Blinkit delivers bread in 10 min, but customers found this in it: Watch video

Caramel colouring is arguably the most extensively used food colouring across the globe. However, its production process can occasionally result in the creation of a cancer-causing chemical known as methylimidazole, which was recognised as a carcinogen back in 2007, as per NutritionFacts.

What FSSAI says

FoodPharma reminds viewers of the fact about a specific rule by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that should play a big role in finding out how healthy a particular bread is.

“The name of ingredients used in the product shall be listed in descending order of their composition by weight or volume, as the case may be at the time of its manufacture,” says the rule as per FSSAI website.

Also Read: Ice-cream, bread, breakfast cereal among list of foods that increases cancer risk

Himatsingka shows in his video that most brown breads in India have maida (refined wheat flour) mentioned as the first ingredient, which means it is the primary ingredient for making the bread. That is why it cannot be considered healthy. He adds that most multigrain breads in India are also made of maida.