Campaigners are calling for changes to certain bread products and calling for manufacturers, supermarkets and officials to take action.
'The Real Bread Campaign' ' is against 'half and half' loaves and first wrote to the CEOs of five bread companies in June 2022, saying it pointed out the apparent discrepancy between their naming and marketing of products they manufactured using less than 100% wholemeal flour, and Section 6 of the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998.
The campaigners claims Iceland has removed its own-brand ‘50% white and wholemeal’ loaf after a complaint was made by the lobby group to a trading standards, the Mirror reports.. Branded half and half loaves are still available to buy on the Iceland website.
A statement on the campaign group's website states that is has submitted complaints to the trading standards department of the Primary Authority for the areas each company it has complained to is based in.
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The Real Bread Campaign said it has challenged Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards' rejection of its complaint against Hovis for an apparent breach of the Bread and Flour Regulations.
It is asking them to review the marketing saying by law the word wholemeal ''can only be used in a product name or marketing if all of the flour in that product is wholemeal''.
The campaign group On 25 January, the Legal Manager at Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards wrote: “Having looked at the legislation I have come to the conclusion that it would help achieve greater clarity if we referred the matter to the central government department responsible for the legislation. As the product is not the only one of this type on the market we think it is important to have a definitive view from central government so that coordinated advice can be given
"This service has contacted Defra with the relevant details and asked them for their opinion about how the Regulations would apply to products such as the one in question.
"Once we have received the opinion from Defra we will review our advice and contact you to inform you what the result is.”
The five loaves the campaign has targeted are Hovis: Best of Both, Iceland: 50% White and Wholemeal, Jacksons: Bloomin' Both, Warburtons: Half White Half Wholemeal.
Chris Young, coordinator of the Real Bread Campaign said: “The law is clear on what you can and can’t name and market using the word wholemeal.
''It’s good to see Iceland’s move in line with this, though they could’ve just renamed the product. The problem here is that the law and official guidance clearly state that the word wholemeal can only be used in a product name or marketing if all of the flour in that product is wholemeal.
''While we're working hard to convince the government to improve loaf labelling and marketing legislation in the UK, it's a worry if manufacturers and retailers can't even follow the law as it stands.
"Evidently there’s an issue with the content, understanding and enforcement of current legislation, a full overhaul of which is long overdue.
"Bakers helping people to trade up from 100% white to at least fifty-fifty is a good thing. What we don't want to see from industrial loaf fabricators is any marketing that's misleading or otherwise breaches applicable regulations.
''While they're at it, we'd love to see them ditching the additives they use, all of which are unnecessary by definition."
Campaigners will continue to lobby government to review the regulation of 'wholegrain' and 'wholemeal' as part of its wider Honest Crust Act work.
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