The topic " black charcoal bread " is linked to specific regulations indicated by the Ministry of Health and to claims that provide guidelines on its use and codes for labeling.

To avoid free interpretations we see together what is specifically indicated in the note issued to the health departments of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, in which are listed clarifications in relation to the production, denomination and labeling of bakery products with the addition of charcoal and marketed such as bread, focaccia or charcoal pizza.

"[...] it is permissible to produce a" fine bakery product "called as such, which adds to the basic ingredients (water, yeast and flour), among others, vegetable charcoal as a coloring additive and in the quantities allowed by regulation European Council (EC Reg. 1333/08 Annex II Part E);

it is not permissible to name the product referred to in point 1 as “bread”, nor to refer to the “bread” in the labeling, presentation and advertising of the same, both in the case of a pre-packaged product and in the case of bulk products (Article 18, Law 580/67);

it is not admissible to add to the labeling, presentation or advertising of the product referred to in point 1 any information that refers to the beneficial effects of vegetable carbon for the human organism, given that it is clearly used only as a coloring additive . "

To understand this better, vegetable charcoal can only be used as a dye with the word E153 in bakery products but it cannot be used as an ingredient in bread production because there is no established tradition and in this sense should be included among the "novel foods" and therefore would need a particular authorization .

In any case, on the market we find black charcoal bread and we must know that it does not comply with the regulations in force, if it refers to the word "bread" instead of " bread replacement ".

Property of "Vegetable bread substitute"

We pay attention to the vaunted properties of "black charcoal bread", such as high digestibility, anti-swelling, antiemetic, etc. Those are the properties of charcoal but do not have such "transitive properties" that if the bread contains a fraction of coal dust then the loaf takes on the beneficial adsorbent effects !!!

We do not fall into the trap of these exploitations: the charcoal bread has the same nutritional values ​​and the same calories as white bread: in 100 grams of bread the contribution is 307 kcal.

Here is now a recipe for preparing homemade charcoal bread in which for 500 g of 00 flour, 6 grams of charcoal or the equivalent in tablets to be minced are indicated.

This recipe does not fall under the considerations set out above because the quantity that is indicated is equal to that of an ingredient and not a simple dye admitted by the Ministry of Health and therefore not marketable .

If at home we want to turn everyday bread into an integrator-like product, we are free to do so, but let's get the hang of the contraindications of vegetable coal .

Contraindications of vegetable carbon

Given that in commercial baked preparations the dose of vegetable carbon is minimal and allowed only for coloring, it goes without saying that there are no contraindications to the consumption of "black bread" .

If instead we wanted to prepare it at home with quantities that exceed the recommended daily dose in the form of supplement (2 grams per day in case of need), we must take into consideration some aspects related to prolonged intake of charcoal:

> may cause constipation ;

> absorbs active ingredients, in the case of drug intake;

> can absorb important nutrients;

> may be harmful if not of good quality, since vegetable carbon is obtained from the combustion of wood.