Have your say on bread in schools

On 13 June 2026, the Department for Education (DfE) and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities launched a public consultation on updating the School Food Standards for England.

The key proposed changes are related to increasing fibre, reducing sugar, and restricting foods higher in fat, sugar and salt.

Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young said:

"Having previously sent the DfE our proposals for improvements to bread standards in schools, it’s good to see the government echoes our ambition to increase children’s fibre intake. We welcome this opportunity for everyone to have a say to help ensure the standards will be even higher than those outlined in the consultation."

Jump to updates

Have your say

If you would like to be involved in helping to draft the Real Bread Campaign's response (which will be included in Sustain's submission) please email Campaign coordinator Chris Young.

Respond directly

As well as / instead of chipping into the Campaign's response, you can respond to the consultation directly. It is open to all and runs until 12 Jun 2026. Full details can be found on the DfE website.

Go to the DfE online survey

The people from whom the government particularly wants to receive responses include parents, school staff members, trust leaders and governors; local authorities; catering managers and chefs/cooks; food producers and suppliers; public health professionals; nutritionists and dietitians working with schools.

The bready bits

The proposed standards related to bread are:

• All bread and morning/bakery goods must contain at least 3g of fibre per 100g. Examples given are: wholemeal breads, some seeded breads and higher fibre white breads such as those which are made with 50% whole grain flour and 50% white flour. It must be made with no added fat or oil.
• Bread, which meets the criteria above, must be available every day - brioche, focaccia, ciabatta are excluded.*
• One or more portions of food from starchy foods group A1** to be served every day and three or more different starchy foods each week. [In addition to the daily bread requirement.]
• Starchy foods cooked using fat or oil (for example focaccia made with olive oil) may be served no more than twice a week and only when they form part of a meal.
• No more than one portion of sweetened baked products*** or desserts can be served each week, and these must contain at least 50% fruit or vegetables, but no confectionery or chocolate. 
• It appears that it will be permitted to serve 'items such as fruited buns on other days.' The Campaign will check what criteria / restrictions will apply to these. [See 22APR26 update below]
• Breakfast options can include bread (as above), fruited bread based buns, and crumpets. Fried breads, pastries and croissants are not permitted.  [See 22APR26 update below for notes on crumpets and fruited buns.]
• Permitted snacks include breadsticks, with no added salt, sugar or fat.

The consultation makes no reference to serving bread with butter / plant-based alternatives (for example spread on rolls, sandwiches, naan, baguettes etc.) or oil to dunk it in. [See 22APR26 update below]

The standards will apply during the school day (mid-morning break and 
lunchtime) and food served in wrapround care - breakfast clubs and after school provision up to 6pm.

These standards won't apply to food at parties, celebrations or fundraising events, or to food used for teaching / in lessons.

*The Campaign will check whether this exclusion also applies to ciabatta made without oil. [See 22APR26 update below]
**Group A1: all types of bread, pasta, couscous, noodles, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, millet, bulgar wheat and cornmeal.
***Sweetened baked products include cakes, buns, muffins, tray bakes, doughnuts, brownies, biscuits and cookies, flapjack, sweet pastries and products containing pastry, crumbles, tarts, pies, sponge puddings, scones. Excludes bread-based fruited buns, such as fruit tea cakes. 

Must try harder

The government’s proposed standards fall short of those proposed by the Real Bread Campaign, which will use the consultation – and the promised meeting with DfE – to restate them.

See also

• New school food standards aim to boost healthier appetites
• More organic in schools can work for children and farmers, and help build UK resilience
• Real Bread in schools update

Updates

DfE = Department for Education

22 April 2026: In response to our questions of 13 April (see below) the DfE's School Food Unit replied:

• Ciabatta is generally made using oil, so was included in the list of examples to be helpful to those who do not make their bread.
• There is no restriction on the provision of bread-based fruited buns such as teacakes. These are listed alongside fruit and yoghurt in the consultation document as a healthier dessert option on the days traditional desserts are not served.
• Caterers are able to use their preferred fat spread/oil to accompany bread items.
• We are not proposing a nutritional restriction for crumpets.

13 April 2026: To help us compose our response to the consultation, we asked the DfE for the following clarifications:

• What is the reasoning behind excluding ciabatta from the ‘bread must be available every day’ requirement? (If it’s based on the belief that ciabatta is always made using oil, that’s not the case.)
• What are / are there any criteria and/or restrictions for bread-based fruited buns that can be served? We have been unable to work out from the notes whether there is a limit to the number of times a week they can be offered, and if any minimum fibre requirement, or sugar, salt and fat restriction, applies.
• Is the proposal to permit, limit or prohibit butter / plant-based alternatives being spread on sandwiches, baguettes, flatbreads etc; or making small portions of oil available to dip bread in?
• What are the proposed fibre, salt, sugar and fat (and any other) restrictions and requirements for crumpets?