A wholegrain of truth? Industrial loaf names, claims and contents
A Real Bread Campaign investigation of 'wholegrain' loaves marketed by some of the UK's highest profile industrial loaf manufacturers found one loaf that declared a miserly 6% wholemeal flour.
The report also looks at the separate term ‘wholemeal’, highlighting the Campaign’s concern that the practice of what it sees as ‘diluting’ wholemeal wheat flour with soya flour and highly refined gluten powder in ‘wholemeal’ loaves is rife amongst industrial loaf manufacturers.
Report contents
Summary
Findings
Recommendations
Introduction
- What this report does not do
- Wholemeal wheat goodness
- Why this matters
The law
- The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998
- Further protection
- When is flour not flour?
- Wholegrain
- Floury language
- Unwrapped loaf law leaving shoppers exposed
- The Law: a crumb of history
Our investigation
- Sources
- Industry and regulators
- Our concerns
- Organisations
Conclusion and recommendations
- Our findings
- Our proposals
- Getting better all the time…
- Look for The Loaf Mark!
Appendix 1: The loaves
Appendix 2: Company responses
Appendix 3: Trading standards office responses
References
Find out more about related issues and how to join the Campaign at www.realbreadcampaign.org
Real Bread Campaign: Finding and sharing ways to make bread better for us, our communities and planet.
Sustain
The Green House
244-254 Cambridge Heath Road
London E2 9DA
020 3559 6777
sustain@sustainweb.org
Sustain advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, promote equity and enrich society and culture.
© Sustain 2025
Registered charity (no. 1018643)
Data privacy & cookies
Icons by Icons8
