Folic-acid-free bread

The Real Bread Campaign has started receiving emails and social media comments from people who’ve begun noticing folic acid on ingredients lists and want or, in some cases, need to avoid this synthetic addition to their flour, bread or industrial dough products.

Find out more
Please head to our flour ‘fortification’ page for more information, including an outline and history of the UK legislation, the Campaign's position and our responses to governmental consultations on the subject, and discussion of the issues / concerns.

Why am I seeing this now?

For decades, The Bread and Flour Regulations have required that mills add four so-called ‘fortificants’ (calcium, iron, thiamine and niacin) to almost all non-wholemeal (white, brown, multigrain, Granary^TM, malthouse etc.) wheat flour sold in the UK, including certified organic products. As a result, bread and other foods made using those flours contain these, also referred to as ‘token nutrients.* 

An amendment to the Regulations, enacted In November 2024, now requires mills to also add folic acid (a synthetic form of folate, found naturally in green vegetables and other foods), giving companies until December 2026 to comply. The aim is to reduce the number of babies being born with (or miscarried due to) neural tube defects (NTD). Based on figures given by the most recent governmental consultation on this issue, this addition to the existing involuntary mass mediation of the nation (around 66 million people in 2019) was predicted to reduce the number of pregnancies affected by NTDs by about 150-200 a year.  

*Some companies choose to add minerals and synthetic forms of vitamins to their foods voluntarily, notably breakfast cereals. This allows marketers to make a range of nutritional claims, even on foods that are otherwise unhealthy.

Can I choose to be additive-free?

Other than giving up bread (and industrial dough products), people in the UK wanting or needing to avoid one or more of the ‘fortificants’ have these options:

• Mandatory ‘fortification’ does not apply to wholemeal wheat flour, or to any non-wheat (barley, oat, soya, pea, bean, potato etc.) flour. 
• As the Regulations apply to non-wholemeal wheat flour that is sold in the UK, some people choose to obtain tabletop mills and make their own fresh flour.  
• It is also generally legal to bring back ‘unfortified’ wheat flour from overseas trips for personal use, but check Governmental website for any restrictions.
• Strangely, although it is illegal to import and sell ‘unfortified’ non-wholemeal wheat flour, it is legal for companies to import and sell such products that were manufactured outside the UK from ‘unfortified’ flour – the ingredients list will show if ‘fortificants’ have been added.

As the result of lobbying by the Real Bread Campaign and others, the 2024 amendment to the Regulations added two (small) exemptions from all ‘fortification’ requirements: 

1. Non-wholemeal wheat flour from mills that produce no more than 500 tonnes of flour a year.
2. Flour milled from wheats other than Triticum aestivum: spelt, einkorn emmer, durum etc.

Additionally, bakeries, retailers, eateries etc. in Northern Ireland can still import and sell ‘unfortified’ flour from EU or EEA countries - a choice that Brexit took away from people in the rest of the UK.

Where can I buy ‘unfortified’ flour and bread?

Many of the mills of the Brockwell Bake Association’s map of those that produce stoneground flour fall below the 500 tonne mandatory ‘fortification’ threshold.

Some small mills have added their details to our Real Bread Map and others appear on the Britain and Ireland Community Grain Associations map.

Some Real Bread bakeries buy all of their flour from small, exempted mills, or mill their own flour. The Real Bread Campaign doesn’t currently have the capacity to research and compile a list. If our funding situation improves (which you can help by joining us and / or making a doughnation) we might be able to add an ‘only uses unfortified flour’ option that bakeries on our Real Bread Map can tick.

Can we get the law changed?

The Real Bread Campaign has been challenging the so-called ‘fortification’ of flour since 2009, including through public consultations that the government has run. Our position remains that there are better ways to improve public health and nutrition than involuntary mass medication of the nation, which effectively denies people their right to choose what goes into the food they eat.

Having helped to secure the two small exemptions in the Bread and Flour Regulations amendment last November, we highly doubt the Government will consider another review any time soon.

If you'd like to lead the charge for change, though, please drop us a line.