Bread can be brown and contain no wholemeal flour

Royal Decree 308/2019 changed the name of bread in Spain on 1 July of that year, and since then the label takes ten seconds to read.

Start with the word on its own. If the packet says «pan integral» — wholemeal bread — the rule requires 100 % of the flour used to be wholemeal, and there is no small print that waters it down.

Then go to the percentage. When the bread only contains a share of it, the name has to say so in full: «bread made with 40 % wholemeal flour». That number is the fact; the rest of the packaging is decoration.

Distrust the colour. A dark shade can come from toasted malt, molasses or caramel, and the seeds stuck to the crust are not flour. «Multigrain» does not mean wholemeal either: it means several grains, and all three of them can be refined.

Make your last check in the dullest place on the packet. The legal name of the product sits in small type, under the brand and above the ingredients; it is the only text the rule obliges to be true. Read it in full before you pay.