What Lidl doesn’t want you to know
Leaked list exposes what retailer chooses to leave off labels.
The April 2025 edition of an internal Lidl bakery information document, which has been leaked to the Real Bread Campaign, discloses facts that the supermarket chain chooses not to display in-store or on its website.
The story
Browsing a supermarket’s ‘in-store bakery’ section, you’d be forgiven for thinking that everything on display was made there that day. After all, it’s all laid out in wicker baskets or on wooden shelves, ready for you to slip into brown paper bags, like you might in an actual bakery. You’re also unlikely to see any long lists of additives, like you might find on a factory loaf.
The message is then hammered home by the ‘freshly baked in store today’ type promises most of the major chains make. Surely it’s the same stuff, made in the same way, but perhaps a bit cheaper?
The truth
Lidl’s marketing includes signage proclaiming the section to be a ‘Bakery’, promising ‘delicious baking at glorious prices’, ‘baked for you throughout the day since 2008’, ‘our finest ingredient is time’ and ‘our loaves are carefully crafted and baked to perfection’.
Revelations of the leaked document include:
- Full ingredients lists – plus a litany of additives that Real Bread bakers do not use.
- A number of products are made with ‘unfortified’ flour, bringing their origin into question.
What even the document doesn’t reveal is where, when, or by which company any of the products were manufactured. Nor does it show which products arrive at stores:
- previously baked at a low temperature (stopping fermentation, setting the crumb and creating a crust), to be re-baked for a few minutes in the store’s loaf tanning salon to brown and crisp the crust.
- as frozen, raw dough, to be fully baked in-store.
- ready to put on display once defrosted (known as thaw-and-serve).
Lidl is not alone in its choice of manufacturing methods, decision to withhold (or, at least, not display) information, and making questionable marketing claims instead.
If you have access to a similar document, which details multiple products from another UK supermarket chain, please email to me – we're happy to keep the source anonymous.
It’s time to come clean
This is all about choice. While some people know or suspect that a lot of the baked goods sold by supermarkets are full of additives, churned out by factory production lines, then only re-baked (or merely defrosted) in distant stores weeks or months later, many other people are making their choices in the absence of the truth. To enable people the chance to make better-informed choices, multiple (and all other) retailers need to come clean. They need to start letting shoppers know when, where, how and with what everything is manufactured.
We are very much aware that the law doesn’t require retailers to display the full ingredients list for food that is sold unwrapped, and continue to lobby the government to close that loophole. We also know that the law doesn’t prohibit retailers from displaying ingredients lists. While I’m on the subject, the law doesn’t demand that retailers bandy about meaningless marketing claims either, but they seem perfectly happy to use them voluntarily to fill the void left by choosing to omit important information.
To be clear, we're not telling people what to buy or not buy, and never have done. What we continue to do is lobby the government for an Honest Crust Act of updated and improved composition, labelling and marketing standards, which will give people the chance to make better-informed buying choices. In the meantime, we urge all producers and retailers (of all types and sizes – including Real Bread (micro)bakeries) to display important, material facts voluntarily.
Given that information, how people spend their money, and what they eat, is still up to them. Going to carry on buying additive-laden industrial dough products because they’re there, (apparently) cheap, and you like them? We’ll leave that to you, while we continue the Real Bread For All strand of our work.
‘It’s just flour, water, yeast and salt, isn’t it?’
The Lidl list draws back the curtain on their customers getting possibly more than they bargained for. For example:
Tiger Loaf: Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Water, Yeast, Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Wheat Flour, Rice Flour, Dextrose, Flour Treatment Agents (Ascorbic Acid, L-Cysteine), Emulsifiers (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Wholemeal Wheat Flour, Palm Oil, Preservatives (Acetic Acid, Calcium Propionate), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Hydroxide).
Chocolate Brioche Croissant: Wheat Flour, 18% Chocolate Flavour and Hazelnut Filling (Sugar, Vegetable Oils [Rapeseed, Palm], 2.2% Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder*, 2.2% Hazelnut Paste, Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithins; Palm Fat, Natural Flavouring), Water, Sugar, Margarine (Palm Fat, Vegetable Oils in Varying Proportions [Sunflower, Rapeseed], Water, Salt, Emulsifier: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Acid: Citric Acid; Preservative: Sorbic Acid; Antioxidants: Fatty Acid Esters of Ascorbic Acid, Tocopherol-Rich Extract; Flavouring, Colour: Carotenes), Sunflower Oil, Yeast, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Vegetable Fats (Palm Kernel, Palm), Salt, Emulsifiers: Sunflower Lecithins, Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate, Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate, Sorbitan Tristearate; Whey Powder (Milk), Wheat Starch, Dextrose, Wheat Gluten, 0.2% Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder*, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid; Turmeric, Natural Flavouring, Colour: Lutein; Flavourings, Pea Protein, Gelling Agent: Pectins; Preservative: Potassium Sorbate; Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid; Maltodextrin, Apple Juice. *Rainforest Alliance Certified
Gingerbread Plait: Danish Pastry (Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Vegetable Margarine [Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Water, Emulsifier: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Salt, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid; Natural Flavouring], Water, Yeast, Salted Egg [Egg, Salt], Sugar, Bread Improver [Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Flour Treatment Agent: Citric Acid], Stabiliser: Tara Gum), 23% Gingerbread Flavoured Filling (Sugar, Vegetable Margarine [Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Water, Coconut Oil, Salt, Emulsifier: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid; Natural Flavouring], Water, Custard Powder [Sugar, Modified Potato Starch, Whey Powder (Milk), Skimmed Milk Powder, Coconut Oil, Stabilisers: Calcium Alginate, Diphosphates, Sodium Phosphates, Triphosphates; Glucose Syrup, Natural Flavouring, Colour: Carotenes; Salt, Milk Protein], Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Skimmed Milk Powder, Natural Flavouring, Thickeners: Sodium Alginate, Pectins; Cassia, Instant Coffee Powder), 3% Biscuit Crumbs (Wheat Flour, Sugar, Plant and Vegetable Oils [Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil], Sugar Candy Syrup [Sugar, Water], Raising Agent: Sodium Carbonates; Salt, Cassia), 1.8% Glaze (Water, Stabiliser: Isomalt; Sugar, Gelling Agent: Agar; Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid; Preservative: Potassium Sorbate).
Strawberry Cheesecake Filled Doughnut: Wheat Flour, Vegetable Fats (Palm, Palm Kernel, Coconut), Water, Sugar, 7.3% Soft Cheese (Water, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Sugar, 9.6% Partially Skimmed Soft Cheese (Milk), Palm Fat, Modified Maize Starch, Milk Protein, Wheat Starch, Skimmed Milk Powder, Acid: Citric Acid; Salt, Preservative: Potassium Sorbate; Emulsifier: Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan Monostearate (Polysorbate 60); Thickener: Xanthan Gum; Natural Flavouring [contains Milk]), Whey Powder (Milk), Glucose Syrup, Sunflower Oil, Dextrose, Lactose (Milk), Yeast, Starch (Maize, Potato), 0.9% Raspberry Purée made from Concentrate, Soya Flour, Emulsifiers: Sunflower Lecithins, Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate; Raising Agents: Diphosphates, Sodium Carbonates; Salt, Colours: Carotenes, Paprika Extract, Beetroot Red, Anthocyanins; Thickeners: Pectins, Locust Bean Gum; Natural Flavourings, Acid: Citric Acid; Preservative: Potassium Sorbate; Skimmed Milk Powder, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid; Concentrated Beetroot Juice.
My response to anyone who says there isn’t enough space on a label or shelf ticket to display such ingredients lists? It’s the same one I gave to a Sainsbury’s rep more than a decade ago: you must be using too many ingredients and additives, then.
A long time ago, in a factory far, far away
The first ingredient listed for a number of products (including two of those above, plus Petit Pain, Crusty Wheat and Rye Bloomer, Pretzel, Kaiser Poppy Seeded Roll, Cheese Topped Roll, Seeded Sourdough Bloomer, Rosemary and Olive Oil Loaf, Walnut & Hazelnut Rye Loaf and others) is wheat flour, without so-called fortificants listed after them.
This suggests one of three things:
- Failure to comply with the law on ingredient declaration.
- The product was manufactured in the UK from illegally imported or produced ‘unfortified’ flour.
- The product was manufactured outside the UK.
We strongly suspect it’s the third of these but, again, as Lidl chooses not to declare when products were manufactured, it’s hard to be sure.
Talking the talk…
…but walking the walk? Supermarkets love using names and claims that, for want of a better term, ‘sex up’ what they’re selling. Two of the products in the Lidl document that got me asking ‘what does that really mean and how do they substantiate it?’ were an ‘Ancient Grain Roll’ and a low ‘Low GI Roll’.
The main ingredient in each is highly-refined, modern wheat flour, which is hardly what I (or anyone) would consider to be an ancient grain or an ingredient with a low glycaemic index.
Looking further down the ingredients list* we find that the quantitative ingredient declaration reveals that an ‘Ancient Grain Topping’ accounts for a miserly 5% of the product. Even then, are the strains of those grains ancient, or modern ones? Most plants on the register of seeds permitted for agricultural use have been developed in recent decades.
What is the glycaemic index of the second roll? I’m finding it hard to imagine how Lidl would be able to justify claiming it’s low, given the main ingredient is white flour, and it also contains added sugar, caramel and dextrose.
Ancient Grain Roll: Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin); Water; Sunflower Seeds; Ancient Grain Topping (Quinoa, Buckwheat, Spelt, Brown Linseed, Chia Seeds, Millet) 5%; Wheat Gluten; Brown Linseed, Wheat Bran; Yeast; Pinhead Oats; Wholegrain Rye Flour; Pumpkin Seeds, Sugar; Whey Powder (Milk); Salt; Rapeseed Oil; Dextrose; Malted Barley Flour; Wheat Fibre; Malted Wheat Flour; Palm Oil; Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid).
Low GI Roll: Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin); Water; Sunflower Seeds; Wheat Gluten; Brown Linseeds; Wheat Bran; Pinhead Oats; Yeast; Rye Flour; Pumpkin Seeds; Sugar; Salt; Whey Powder (Milk); Burnt Sugar; Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil); Dextrose; Wheat Fibre; Malted Wheat Flour; Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid).
* something that Lidl customers can only do if they wait for up to quarter of an hour for a member of staff to find it (as I have done) or email the company and wait for about two months (as the person who sent us the list reported they did.)
See also
Published Wednesday 23 April 2025
Real Bread Campaign: Finding and sharing ways to make bread better for us, our communities and planet.
