The Real Bread Campaign has always been as much about people as it is about food.
Our mission is finding and sharing ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet.
Without people, there is no Real Bread. Grain is grown and milled, then flour is lovingly crafted into Real Bread, by people. For whom is all of this done? People.
People of every age, nationality, colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, differing ability, neurological status, religion and economic background, who speak every language worldwide, are involved in the rise of Real Bread and enjoy eating it. We work towards everyone having a realistic chance to choose Real Bread.
While Sustain / the Real Bread Campaign is not party political, everything that involves people is political. The choices you make about food growing, making and buying are political acts - as are decisions made by others that affect your choices and your ability to make them.
This is no place for hate. We stand against all forms of prejudice, bigotry, intolerance and hatred. These include (but are not limited to): misogyny and other forms of sexism; racism; ableism; ageism; homophobia; transphobia; islamophobia, antisemitism and other religious intolerance / hate; xenophobia; sizeism...
We welcome everyone who shares our - or has similar - beliefs, values and aims. We invite you to our network of friends by signing up to the free mailing list via our website.
If you would like to support our charity’s work, please head to our site and join the Real Bread Campaign, become a Real Bread Loaf Mark licensee or make a doughnation.
Our site is also where your can find examples of our 17+ year celebration of the wide range of people behind the rise of Real Bread. To read about our ongoing work to improve equity, diversity and inclusion in and through our work please head to our website - click on 'about' and scroll down.
And if you're here just for the bread, there's a heck of a lot more about that on our site, too.
#RealBreadCampaign #WeAreRealBread
Maybe this is your inspiration to switch to wholemeal Real Bread?
This isn't a post about whether folic acid or any of the other so-called 'fortificants' added to flour by law in the UK are 'good' or 'bad / 'safe' or 'unsafe'. This is for people who already know they need or want to avoid them.
Since the 1940s, it has been mandatory to 'fortify' most non-wholemeal wheat flour (including certified organic) sold in the UK. For many years these mandatory additions have been iron, calcium carbonate, niacin and thiamin(e).
In November 2024, the Bread and Flour Regulations were amended to require mills to add folic acid as well. The final deadline to comply is December 2026 but some mills are doing so already.
Non-wheat flours (eg rye, barley, oat etc.) and wholemeal wheat flour remain exempt, but note that brown / sifted, multigrain / malthouse, Granary ™ etc. flours are not wholemeal, so have to be 'fortified'.
After the Real Bread Campaign, and others, lobbied for exemptions to all ‘fortification’ requirements (in our case to give people the chance to choose flour and, therefore, bread, without the additions) the Government agreed to two:
1) Non-wholemeal wheat flour from ‘small mills’ that produce 500 tonnes of flour or less a year.
2) Flour milled from wheats other than ‘common’ or ‘bread’ wheat (Triticum aestivum): spelt, einkorn, emmer, durum etc.
For more information and links to maps of small flour mills, please see the feature we published in the latest articles section of the Real Bread Campaign website.
While we don't have a list of products made from folic-acid-free flour, or bakeries that only use 'unfortified' flour, you can search the Real Bread Map on our website and ask a local bakery what flour they use.
Though we're not debating / discussing the cases for and against flour ‘fortification’ (yet again) here, you can find much more information on the issue, our position on it, on the 'flour fortification' page of our website.
#bread #folicaicd #fortifiedflour
Don't like eating additives? Look for the Real Bread Loaf Mark!
It's an at-a-glance additive-free assurance from the bakery to you*
If you're looking for sourdough Real Bread in particular, look for The Sourdough Loaf Mark.
To:
>read a list of the 180 current Loaf Mark users - including only two that have national supermarket distribution in the UK.
>find full details of the scheme and how it works
>sign your Real Bread bakery up to the scheme
...head to the Real Bread Campaign website, which is also where you can search the Real Bread Map for around 900 bakeries that have added their details.
*Always read the label*
Producers / manufacturers have to print full ingredients lists on labels of food sold prepacked. If the food is sold loose / unpackaged, they can choose not to display full ingredients lists at point of sale.
We continue to lobby the UK government to close this legal loophole, and urge all bakers and retailers to display this important info voluntarily in the meantime.
Soft, sweet and chewy, Agege bread is a Nigerian take on the white sandwich loaf.
Typically baked in a lidded Pullman tin, this dense, close-crumbed, white bread, enriched with butter (or margarine), sugar and sometimes milk, is a version of 'sugar bread' or 'butter bread'. It takes its name from a suburb in Lagos state, but how does it fit into the country’s bread history?
You can find a long-read essay in the latest articles section of the Real Bread Campaign website.
#bread #agegebread #nigerianbakers
@TopeSante , 16 May 2026: Pain complet industriel : ce que l’on ne voit pas à l’œil nu
Dans les versions industrielles, on trouve souvent une liste à rallonge: émulsifiants, gluten ajouté, sirop de glucose, huiles végétales, agents de conservation. Des travaux rassemblés par des nutritionnistes français indiquent que ce profil ultra-transformé annule en grande partie les bénéfices attendus des céréales complètes, malgré parfois 7 g de fibres pour 100 g.
Le coordinateur de la Real Bread Campaign, Chris Young, prévient: "Les mentions'wholegrain, 'sourdough, 'ancient grains' et 'freshly baked' ne garantissent en rien la façon dont un produit a été fabriqué, ni avec quels ingrédients". Il ajoute aussi: "Plus la promesse marketing est grande sur le devant du paquet, plus il est nécessaire de lire attentivement le petit texte au dos".
Industrial wholemeal bread: what you can't see with your naked eye
In the industrial versions, we often find a long list: emulsifiers, added gluten, glucose syrup, vegetable oils, preservatives. The work by French nutritionists indicates that this ultra-transformed profile largely cancels out the benefits whole grains, despite sometimes 7g of fibre for 100g.
The coordinator of the Real Bread Campaign, Chris Young, warns: "The terms 'wholegrain', 'sourdough', 'ancient grains' and 'freshly baked' do not guarantee how a product was made, or with what ingredients". He also adds: "The greater the marketing promise is on the front of the package, the more necessary it is to carefully read the small print on the back".
#RealBreadCampaign #wholegrains ##healthybread
Paying supporters are the lifeblood of the Real Bread Campaign, without whom the charity Sustain would not be able to do this work.
*You can help*
We rely on the help of our supporters and other friends to invite people into the fold, so please point people our way. Thank you to those who have done this and continue to do so!
When you encourage someone to join the Real Bread Campaign, ask them to give you (or your company / organisation) a mention in the ‘how did you hear about becoming a Campaign supporter?’ box of the sign up form.
We've published a list of referrers in the latest news section of our website - which is also where you can join us.
#RealBreadCampaign #charity #fundraising
Have you read the latest issue of True Loaf magazine?
The April-June issue is available for Real Bread Campaign supporters worldwide to download from our website.
Features in this issue:
> Inside the loaf tanning salon: A former supermarket baker exposes a sector axing skilled jobs and freshly-made bread.
> From crop to oven: by Shannon Brodnik, owner-bakery of @CrumbAndButter Bakery in Citrus Heights, California.
> Barra boy: Five hours by ferry from the Scottish mainland, Gary Lamont has become his community’s baker as @BarraKneads
> A view from the farm: @TheOrganicFarmShop co-owner Hilary Chester-Master says that running a bakery surrounded by wheatfields has its challenges.
> Seed to sandwich in Washington State: @BreadEncounters with Sibyl Leon-Lamica and Gretchen Cruden.
> Deutsches Brot: Brighton-based baking book author, trombonist and Great British Bake-Off semi-finalist, @JurgenTheBread Krauss sends a postcard from his homeland.
Do you love Real Bread and what our charity does, but you aren't a Campaign supporter yet? Please head to our website and JOIN US today!
#RealBread #RealBreadCampaign #bread
Welcome to the latest, and renewing, Real Bread Loaf Mark licensees:
@BreadBinBakery , Hale
Croft at Caorann, Caorann
@_Leavened_ , Weston
@ylevensbakery_llanelli , Llanelli
@Skadi_Bakery , Dalry
Head to the Real Bread Campaign website for:
> details of the scheme - for bakers and buyers.
> the most recent full list of Loaf Mark licensees (in the latest news section)
> the Real Bread Map of hundreds of bakeries that have added their details.
> the rest of our charity's work and how you can support it.
(Going to try to do these updates regularly from now on...)
Loaf Mark in action at long-time Loaf Mark licensee @st.john.restaurant
#RealBread #RealBreadCampaign
After @TheGrocerOfficial ran this story yesterday, The Express picked it up today.
You can find full details in the latest news section of the Real Bread Campaign website - which is also where you can find out about the rest of our charity's work for the past 17+ years.
#RealBreadCampaign
£5 BOOK SALE ENDS TODAY! It's the last day of our LESS THAN HALF PRICE Bake Your Lawn offer.
Don't miss out: head to the Real Bread Campaign website now - link in our profile.
The book is perfect for teachers, (grand)parents and everyone else who wants to lead children on the Real Bread journey from seed to sandwich.
Starting with a handful of wheat and small patch of earth, together you'll be inspired to grow it, mill it, bake it, eat it.
(If you've missed spring wheat planting season, you can simply skip forward to making Real Bread from grain someone else grew and milled, and be all set for planting in the autumn / winter.)
We're offering a discount of more than 66% on copies of its grow-a-loaf guidebook, saving you £10 off the regular cover price of £15.
We also offer up to 30% off our other books, Slow Dough: Real Bread (recipes) and Knead to Know...more (microbakery business handbook).
Notes
>The £5 offer applies to copies of Bake Your Lawn bought through the Real Bread Campaign website.
>Discount applies to the book only, to which the regular £3 P&P charge will be added.
>Offer available until 13 May 2026.
>We only post to addresses in the UK, so please only order if you have one.
#RealBread #RealBreadCampaign
Salty supermarket sandwiches slammed.
Sustain alliance member @ActionOnSaltAndSugar has published the results of a new survey of 546 sandwiches, wraps, rolls and baguettes sold in supermarkets and high street chains.
> 44% of the products passed the ‘high’ salt red traffic light warning for front of pack labelling.
> 1 in 4 of the sandwiches are classed as ‘less healthy’ under high fat, salt and sugar (HFFS) rules.
> 32 products contained 50% or more of an adult’s guideline daily maximum amount (6g) of salt in a single serving.
The announcement of the report said the ‘worst offender is GAIL’s Smoked Chicken Caesar Club, packing more salt than nearly five McDonald's cheeseburgers.’
The authors say the report: ‘lays bare the scale of hidden salt in everyday lunch choices and exposes the failure of the Government’s voluntary approach to improve the nutritional quality of foods available to us.’
Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young said: ‘while large manufacturers have made progress in reducing salt levels, some still need to go further and faster. We echo Action on Salt & Sugar’s call for the Government and businesses to step up to the plate.’
You can find more details and download the report from the Action on Salt website
The Real Bread Campaign has long urged bakeries of all types and sizes to reduce the amount of salt they use. There is a page about salt reduction on the Real Bread Campaign website.
#SaltAwarenessWeek 2026 runs until 17 May.
As the result of a trading standards complaint submitted by Real Bread Campaign, Aldi is relabelling a 'dark rye' loaf.
In early 2026, the Campaign complained first to the supermarket, and then to the trading standards service, that the product name was inaccurate and misleading because the main ingredient was refined wheat flour, and that Aldi had failed to show the legally-required quantitative ingredients declaration (QUID) of the rye flour.
The changes include declaring that the product contains just 31% rye flour, and renaming it from 'Rye Dark Sourdough' to 'Wheat & Rye Dark Sourdough'.
Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young said: 'This is another case of a massive, multimillion pound corporation's failure creating extra work for a consumer protection body and a small charity. Both the trading standards service and we are underfunded and overstretched. Neither should have to pursue cases like this.'
#RealBreadCampaign #foodlabels
