With ordinary Sri Lankans already undergoing painful adjustments on the economic front, a new gazette regulating the weight of bread loaves is signalling a further tightening of belts in the offing.
Issuing an extraordinary gazette on 2 February, the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) announced that any manufacturer or trader of bread should ensure that each such type of bread contained the standard weight specified in the gazette and that every trader should clearly and conspicuously display the weight of any bread offered or displayed for sale.
Accordingly, the CAA has specified that a loaf of bread should weigh 450 g, with a permissible deficit of 13.5 g, while a half a loaf of bread should weigh 225 g, with an allowed deficit of 9 g.
Following the gazette notification, the CAA launched nationwide raids to apprehend those who violated the regulations. Speaking to The Sunday Morning on Wednesday (14), CAA Director – Raids and Special Investigation Sanjaya Irasinghe said that by Tuesday (13), the CAA had identified a total of 346 bakery owners since the beginning of the operation for violating regulations by selling underweight loaves of bread and failing to display prices.
“A small-scale bakery will receive a fine between Rs. 1,000-10,000, while a large-scale company will be charged between Rs. 10,000-100,000,” he said, however expressing the belief that the fine was not sufficient to deter violators on the lower end.
Addressing the nature of violators, he said that large-scale businesses typically adhered to the specified weights. “The violations occur mostly among small-scale businesses and ‘choon paan’ bread trucks, especially in the rural areas.”
He noted that previously loaves used to be artificially enlarged using yeast, etc., but that the new regulation would ensure that consumers received loaves of the appropriate weight for the price.
A positive move?
Meanwhile, All Ceylon Bakery Owners’ Association (ACBOA) President N.K. Jayawardena told The Sunday Morning that this gazette was simply a renewal of previous legislation and that they were not opposed to it.
“We also believe that bakeries should not sell underweight bread, since that would be a fraudulent practice. However, bakery owners sometimes make bread at a lower weight and sell at a lower price, which is not an injustice although it contravenes the law. For instance, bakery owners make loaves that weigh 350 g and sell at around Rs. 100-120. If they make a loaf weighing 450 g, it will have to be sold at Rs. 150-160. However, the issue is that they can’t sell bread at that price. This is a problem with no solution.”
He stressed that bakery owners who used to sell bread at Rs. 120 were unable to sell bread weighing 450 g at the same price and would have to sell it at Rs. 160 at the least, which would make it seem as if the price of bread had increased.
While he noted that there were positives to the regulation, as it would be preferred if all bakeries operated according to the law, he pointed out that this would cause issues for small-scale bakery owners since they were used to producing bread that weighed lower and selling them at a lower price.
“There is a significant concern for small-scale bakery owners, since they have been selling at a lower price all this while, so they can’t increase the price now even if they increase the weight. Consumers won’t know if the weight has increased. However, our stance is that there should be a proper weight.”
Complication for smaller bakeries
Meanwhile, Southern Province Small and Medium-Scale Bakery Owners’ Association President Kamal Perera noted that this gazette had led to bakeries facing difficulties in selling their products.
He noted that this gazette would have a general impact on small-scale bakeries given the practices they had adopted to ensure the functioning of their operations thus far. He said: “The regulation which stipulates the weight of a loaf as 450 g and of half a loaf as 225 g was formulated decades ago. With the present changes in the economy and people’s activities, traders have changed the price and weight of bread.”
He explained that when consumers were unable to purchase bread at the stipulated weight, manufacturers were compelled to instead produce bread at a cost consumers could actually meet.
“For instance, a 450 g loaf of bread is sold at around Rs. 180. Accordingly, manufacturers produce bread that weighs around 300 g and sells it at Rs. 100 instead. This is convenient to both consumers and the traders.
“However, with the new gazette, the worry for consumers is that the price of bread will increase when it is sold at 450 g, which is inevitable. Moreover, bakeries are concerned that they may not be able to sell their products once weights and prices are increased. Accordingly, they may stop the production of bread, leading to a collapse of the business and ensuring that consumers can no longer purchase as they wish to.”
Accordingly, Perera shared that they would be proposing that such antiquated regulations be changed and that consumers be allowed to select a loaf of bread, have it weighed by a scale, and make a payment according to the weight.
“Even shampoos and soaps are available in sachet forms since consumers lack purchasing power. Therefore, it is not right to discriminate solely against the production of bread in this manner. We urge the Government to ensure that bread is weighed at the point of sale, similar to how cake is sold according to weight.”
He further stressed that it was not possible to impose a control price on bread given the disparity in the quality of ingredients used at various bakeries. “The quality of ingredients used decides the price of bread. For instance, I use high-quality margarine, so my products are sold at a higher price. If a control price is introduced, we will be unable to sell our products,” he said, adding that introducing a means of purchasing after weighing would ensure that consumers could purchase bread at the price they could afford.
Perera further noted that the new regulation would impact the sale of other bakery goods. “Bakeries don’t earn a profit from bread loaves or roast paan sales; instead, they profit from the sale of other products. Consumers mostly buy these other products when they come to buy bread. Outside of the festive season, people will buy a slice of cake when they come to purchase bread. However, under the present circumstances, consumers no longer visit bakeries,” he said, noting that this deprived bakers of these sales.
Perera, who owns and operates a medium-scale bakery, told The Sunday Morning that since his bakery had followed the relevant regulations even prior to the recent regulation, it was not significantly affected. However, he noted that while his bakery continued to receive regulars, random consumers no longer dropped by to make purchases, especially of other bakery products.
Low-income earners affected
Given these circumstances, the repercussions of the new gazette are likely to affect low-income earners significantly.
For instance, Perera noted: “It is mostly low-income earners who purchase bread; there are even some who eat bread for all three meals. These individuals have been significantly burdened by this new regulation, since their concern is about the potential price increase of a loaf which weighs 450 g. They will then move towards alternatives instead of purchasing bread.”
National Consumer Front Chairman Asela Sampath meanwhile alleged that this new regulation was a strategy by large-scale bakery owners to increase sales of their sandwich bread loaves, accusing the All Ceylon Bakery Owners’ Association of attempting to tear down small-scale bakeries.
“This is a ploy deployed by the ACBOA and large-scale bakery owners to increase sales of their sandwich bread loaves and create difficulties for small-scale bakery owners, using the Minister and the CAA for their ends,” he said, describing it as a betrayal of the bakery profession.
He stressed that a specific weight and price could be determined for bread. “If weight can be specified, why can they not specify price as well?”
Sampath further charged that the existing moulds in bakeries did not facilitate the production of 450 g loaves, necessitating the change of moulds.
Describing this as an unsuccessful attempt, he said: “If the weight is being made mandatory, they should simply specify the price for a 100 g loaf. If cake and sugar can be purchased in kilos, why can’t bread be purchased in kilos? Consumers will then get the ability to purchase bread according to what they can spend. Instead, this regulation has ensured that the bread sold at Rs. 100 is no longer available for the consumers who need it.”