Help us expose The (not so)Great British Fake Off
Send us examples of misleading supermarket bakery claims and displays.
People deserve to know the truth about when, where and how food was made. In fact, consumer protection and general food law requires it.
It seems, however, that UK supermarkets might not be as honest and transparent as they could about what's going on behind the scenes at some in-store 'bakery' sections.
In some cases, rather employing trained bakers to make products on site from scratch (ie from basic ingredients), the 'bakery' is in fact what the Real Bread Campaign calls a loaf tanning salon. This is a place where staff members merely load pre-made products into an oven.
What to capture
The Real Bread Campaign is collecting photos of the following type of claim being made in 'bakery' sections by the UK's largest supermarket chains:
- Freshly baked
- Baked in store
- Baked throughout the day
- Expertly baked
- Freshly baked for you
- Freshly made today
The claim can be on a poster, window, point of sale display or product packaging.
Each photo needs to be from a store in which you know that the 'bakery' section products (which typically include baguettes, rolls, tiger loaves and other apparently hand-shaped things) aren't made from scratch on site.
The Campaign is also collecting examples of supermarket 'bakery' section products on wooden shelves, in baskets, or otherwise displayed in a way that seems intended to evoke an artisan/craft/small bakery.
Send your photos
In your email, please say in which branch of which supermarket chain you took the photo(s). Please also say how you know, or what leads you to believe, there was not a scratch bakery on site.
Click here to email you photos
Please also say whether you're happy to be named, or prefer to remain anonymous, if we publish your photo.
To be clear...
This piece of work is all about marketing. It isn't saying that supermarkets should stop selling bake-off products, or anything to about additives, pricing, sourdough... It's simply challenging the way that re-baked products are displayed and advertised in some stores.
See also
Published Wednesday 24 April 2024
Real Bread Campaign: The Real Bread Campaign finds and shares ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet. Whether your interest is local food, community-focussed small enterprises, honest labelling, therapeutic baking, or simply tasty toast, everyone is invited to become a Campaign supporter.
