Starting from June 15, there will be a unified standard for five traditional Xi'an local snacks.

The City Quality and Technology Supervision Bureau (QTSB) held a press conference yesterday to announce the specific standard. At the same time, QTSB emphasized that the standard is only a suggested recommendation, not a formal regulation; its intention is simply to protect the overall brand of Xi'an traditional snacks.

The standard also ensures that the English names of five traditional snacks—rougamo, pita bread soaked in beef soup, pita bread soaked in lamp soup, hele buckwheat noodles, hulutou and biangbiang noodles—will all be uniform.

The standard is especially specific when it comes to the processes of making these five snacks. Take rougamo as an example. The shape of the steamed bread used for making rougamou has to be 2 centimeters thick with a diameter of 11.5 centimeters, and the ratio of lean to fat meat inside the bread has to be 6.5:3.5.

”The standard is meant to improve the future development of Xi'an traditional snacks. It helps to build a brand for Xi'an snacks, as well as for the ancient city of Xi'an,” explained the director of QTSB, Guan Yangli. Guan also said that the standard will evolve over time to cater to consumers’ needs. The first standard will be implemented for five years to start.