Bakers on the breadline

GALICIA claims to make the best bread in Spain but new regulations have enraged the makers of traditional Pan Gallego. 

The national Bread Law, which came into force on July 1, sets out the requirements bakers must fulfil if they wish to use the Artisan Bread label. 

The majority of Galician bakeries, including those with the Protected Geographical Indication label, do not comply with new rules that are well-intentioned but clash with regional traditions. 

They are particularly incensed by the need to produce bread under the direction of a master baker, a qualification that does not exist in Galicia. 

“It’s senseless. The law is orientated towards controlling bread made for the supermarket chains, but they haven’t stopped to think how it affects us,” said the president of the association of Orense’s Bread Manufacturers and Bakeries. 

But he added that the public would continue to want and buy Pan Gallego “regardless of whether it’s called Artisan or any other adjective they want to use.”