Beautiful dark wholemeal bread – all just appearances? Sugar couleur as a “darkener” for bread

Today, when you buy a loaf of bread at a bakery chain or bakery store, you may be hugely deceived.

It happens again and again that bread made from white flour, which has fewer nutrients and minerals than wholemeal bread, is simply dyed dark to pass it off as wholemeal bread. This is done by adding sugar couleur, for example. Sugar couleur (also sugar caramel) is a black food coloring that darkens the light dough. Sugar caramel is not only used for breads, however; the best-known examples are cola drinks. Likewise, in other sweets this coloring agent is used for darkening. Malt extract can also be used for exactly the same deception.

What is misleading for us consumers is that these “darkeners” do not have to be labeled as additives and no approval is needed for them.

To avoid “colored” bread, a very good alternative would be to grind your own flour with one of our Salzburg grain mills and bake your own fresh, unprocessed bread with it.

Sources:

Die Wahrheit über das Geschäft mit dem gedopten Brot – Wie steht es um unser wichtigstes Nahrungsmittel?

https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article149413301/Was-alles-in-unserem-taeglich-Brot-steckt.html

http://eatsmarter.de/ernaehrung/lebensmittelzusatzstoffe/mehlbehandlungsmittel

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuckercouleur