A series of measures are taken for bread sales in the scope of coronavirus-related actions in Turkey. Customers can no longer touch bread with bare hands.

Customers can no longer touch bread with bare hands according to new measures against the COVID-19 pandemic. Bread can only be sold at supermarkets and bakery shops. The Turkish government has taken extra measures for public health. Agriculture and Forest Ministry made a statement on how bread and other baked products can be sold. Bread will be offered with packages and paper materials that are designed to be in contact with food. Unpackaged bread can be sold in cupboards but customers will not be able to collect get it directly. Store clerks will give the bread and they will comply with hygiene rules. Customers will not be able to touch bread with bare hands before buying. Cakes, pastries, and cookies will also be sold in packages. Rafet Dincer, the head of Bread Producers Association in Bahcelivler district of Istanbul, said that new measures will bring extra costs for them but they will not reflect this to bread prices in the short term. “Package is an extra burden for us. We will bear that cost for now. But prices may be increased after coronavirus is more contained. We will not reflect it to the prices in the short term,” he said. According to the new measures, selling packaged or unpackaged bread at market places, greengrocers or portable carts is banned.