Is the planned automation of Jeddah’s bakeries within the next two years really a good idea? A food official has said that the move is to improve hygiene. No doubt some of the larger bakers are looking forward to a long-term cost saving. Bread-making equipment may be expensive but so too is labor. Provided that bread-making equipment is properly installed and maintained, it is going to cut out a major cost and boost profitability.

Add to this better control of materials, the reliability of the ovens and the timing during the production, and it can be expected that there will be an end to queues outside the baker’s shop waiting for a fresh batch of breads to come out of the ovens. Indeed, some baking equipment is able to produce loaves of a uniform size and weight on an endless production line with minimal, if any, waste. The convenience this will bring to customers will be considerable. And who knows... the price of bread might just fall!

Yet this apparent good news conceals some odd issues that need exploring. The Saudi Food and Drugs Authority has cited as one of its major concerns, the problem of hygiene. An official has said that it wants to cut out the human handling of bread. On the face of it, it is not hard to see why. In the run-up to Eid, a number of bakeries were exposed, not just over calamitously-bad hygiene standards but also because they were were employing under-age children, illegal foreign workers and cheating customers on the weight of loaves. In such circumstances, the SFDA reaction is, in its way, understandable.

The discovery of this criminal behavior, and make no mistake, in terms of both the law and the danger to people who ate this bread, this was deeply criminal, has apparently not yet led to any prosecutions and fines. It must be hoped that these cases will still come to court. In food hygiene, as in so many other areas, the Kingdom enjoys tough and comprehensive regulations, based on international best practice. Yet the rules are worthless unless those who break them are punished accordingly. Without the risk of any sanction, let alone a serious penalty, an unscrupulous baker will carry on as before. In addition, the lack of a strong and regular inspection regime may only encourage rule-flouting.

It has been frequent complaint of officials charged with checking out a whole range of regulations in the Kingdom, particularly health and safety issues, that they are under-resourced. Moreover there are some businesses that obstruct their work and others that simply ignore their recommendations. Such attitudes are not always challenged by more senior personnel within government inspectorates.

There is a clear danger here that inspectors who seek to do their jobs conscientiously, will gradually lose morale and motivation and perhaps look to other, more satisfying employment. By the same token, some firms claim that they have encountered inspectors less dedicated to improving areas such as health and safety than to improving their own financial position.

Therefore since it is clear that in some bakeries at least, there is a hygiene problem with traditional, manual bread production, why are not elementary cleanliness rules being enforced? Cameras can be installed to monitor the behavior of bakers and their adherence to hygiene rules. Regular snap inspections will catch out weight cheats. Laboratory analysis of loaves will confirm that they have been made with the right ingredients. And real punishments for the infringement of regulations will ensure that the regulations are respected.

Abandoning the centuries-old art of bread-making, just because, effectively, bakery owners will not ensure that their employees wash their hands, seems an over-reaction. The introduction of mechanical production lines is also going to destroy job opportunities for unemployed Saudis.

And perhaps there is one absolutely compelling reason for hoping that bakeries can avoid mechanizing because of hygiene concerns — machine-made bread simply does not taste as good. Many other food-stuffs, particularly dairy, that are produced in Saudi Arabia, are of outstanding taste and quality. But bread is in a class of its own. We all grew up eating loaves that had been hand-crafted and moved, individually, in and out of the oven on a baker’s peel (paddle). The scent of warm, fresh bread at the Iftar table is never to be forgotten. The artisan bakery is an important part of our way of life. Are we really to lose it because bakers cannot be made to wash their hands?