Report: National standards define steamed buns

Beijing / CN. (hmp) Steamed buns, traditional Chinese dietary mainstay, will as of 2008 be served according to detailed criterions, the «Huashang Morning Post» reported. The basic national standards on steamed buns made of wheat flour are jointly authorized by China´s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of China.

The first standards concerning flour products outside bakeries, the standards were two years in the making, the report said. Steamed buns should take circular or crescent form with no folds and speckles, and should contain no more than 45 percent water, according to the definition in the standards. According to the «Huashang Morning Post» these detailed descriptions sound unnecessarily strict to vendors who have been selling homemade steamed buns for years.

Steamed buns have various regional features; they have different names and take on different shapes in different areas. How do the nationwide standards deal with the diversity and tradition of the buns? Many dealers expressed their doubts regarding the document. But for companies who produce or sell steamed buns in large quantities, the standards are beneficial.

«People always buy steamed buns from street vendors for their cheap prices, but many of the privately-owned producers do not meet criterion for sanitation and other factors», officials say. But as a result of the standards, large companies will take over the market, and small businesses will be regulated …