The ‘100 percent Portuguese’ bread aims to showcase the quality of products, such as cereals, that are grown on home soil.
Made from 100 percent national ingredients, some 50,000 of the fully ‘home-grown’ breads went on sale at Continente supermarkets on Tuesday in a project that is geared towards wider distribution and brings together leading researchers and producers.
Portugal currently imports most of the ingredients necessary to make its bread.
Fernando Carpinteiro Albino, President of the Portuguese Club for Quality Cereals, said the Elvas-born project aims to unite the entire production line, from cereal-growers, to flour-makers, bakers and bread sellers.
Mr. Albino said Portugal needs to start hedging its bets again on its own cereals because “we can’t afford the luxury of importing almost 100 percent of the bread and pasta that we consume.”
He recalled how almost all of the bread produced in Portugal is made from ingredients imported from abroad.
“Unfortunately, 92 percent of the bread we eat is imported”, he stressed, explaining how Portugal imports most of its wheat from Europe, namely France and Germany, but also “lots from Canada”, which entails high costs.
Figures from Portugal’s National Statistics Office show that in 2015, 1,276,000 tons of cereals worth €264 million were imported, against the 17,000 tons (largely rice) worth €3.4 million that were exported.
Calculations show that Portugal’s level of self-sufficiency in terms of cereals is about 27 percent.