City dad seeks relaunch of 'Pan de Sal Project'

Cebu City councilor Arsenio Pacaña yesterday asked the Department of Trade and Industry to seriously mull over the re-launching of the "Pinoy Pan de Sal Project" as a way of upholding the welfare of the bread-making industry and to provide quality pan de sal to consumers.

Pan de sal, the popular Filipino bread product, usually paired with hot coffee, has already lost 30 percent of its weight in the last three years due to economically difficult times, this was observed.

Pacaña, chairman of the committee on trade and industry, said pan de sal, the all-time Filipino favorite item for breakfast and merienda, is also undergoing the process of standardization of its quality enhanced through a project initiated by the DTI.

The Pinoy Pan de Sal project, initiated by the DTI in cooperation with the Philippine Federation of Bakers Association and the Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corporation, aims to provide the Filipino consumers with good quality pan de sal at 25 grams, sold a peso a piece, and baked in bromate-free bread flour enriched with iodized salt and vitamin A.

Malacañang set the price of the 25-gram pan de sal at P1 each, or P2 for the heavier 50-gram version, in April 2003, through the Pinoy Pan de Sal. The project guaranteed a 25-gram weight per piece of the P1-pan de sal through the use of a cheaper flour mix known as "Harina de Pan de Sal" specially reformulated by San Miguel Corporation.

Pacaña said that some sectors and consumers find the proposed plan of bakers to further lessen the pan de sal's weight or heaviness as rather ill-timed, owing to the current drop in the price of cooking gas as a result of the global plunge of oil prices in the world market.

"It is imperative for DTI to take advantage of the country's current economic gains and increases in the purchasing power of the peso to re-launch the Pinoy Pan de Sal project as early Christmas treat to a majority of pan de sal-loving Filipinos," Pacaña said in his proposed resolution.

The DTI aims to make this staple breakfast and merienda item available in grocery stores, protect the health of consumers through nutritious and affordable products, and to provide financial support to the bakers in the country through improved technology in baking pan de sal as well as other bread products. - Garry B. Lao