(CRI)
Updated: 2008-01-03 15:59

Steamed buns, a traditional Chinese dietary mainstay, will now be served according to detailed criterions, Shenyang-based newspaper the Huashang Morning Post reported on Thursday.

This caricature, published on Thursday, January 3, 2008, shows a group of irregular-shaped steamed buns complaining about their banishment from the steamed buns family. [sina.com.cn]

The basic national standards on steamed buns made of wheat flour, jointly authorized by China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of China, went into to effect on the first day of 2008, with more of its details to be published soon.

The first standards concerning flour products outside bakeries, the standards were two years in the making, the report said.

"The document defines a steamed bun based on its appearance, materials and packaging," said the company who initiated the draft of the standards.

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.

These detailed descriptions sound unnecessarily strict to vendors who have been selling homemade steamed buns for years.

"Square buns taste the same as the round ones, so why can't they be called steamed buns?" a vendor at a commodity fair in Shenyang's Huanggu district asked.

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, product materials and other factors," said the initiator company.

As a result of the standards, large companies will take over the market, and small businesses will be regulated.