MANILA, Philippines - "Mura, masarap, masustansiya" (Cheap, delicious, nutritious).
This is the tagline behind the Pinoy Tasty, a result of the local bakery industry's effort to provide a cheaper alternative to branded loaf breads sold in the market today.
About 400,000 of the 450-gram loaves are bought in supermarkets, groceries, bakeries and convenience stores every month, according to Victorio Dimagiba, director of the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection.
"It's generic, in a sense. Pinoy Tasty serves the purpose, it's still bread," he said in an interview at Mornings@ANC on Monday.
A number of well-known local bread brands have been manufacturing Pinoy Tasty, but Dimagiba assures that they all follow a standard recipe.
He added that no matter where it is sold, a loaf of Pinoy Tasty costs P38.
Currently, bread is sold at P47 to P57 per loaf.
Aside from the color, it's hard to notice the difference between Pinoy Tasty and the usual loaf bread, Dimagiba claimed. Big bakers were able to slash the price of Pinoy Tasty by taking out non-essential ingredients like eggs, milk, margarine and butter.
"They don't use white sugar or refined sugar, but the cheaper washed sugar. So it's a little bit brownish compared sa branded na white," he said.
He continued, "You won't notice the difference. It tastes the same...It also has iron and vitamin A."
With more bakers joining their cause to offer quality bread at affordable prices, Dimagiba is expecting more than 400,000 Filipinos to patronize the Pinoy Tasty loaf each month. (report from ABS-CBN News)
