Co-op doubling down on doughy deceit?

The Co-op has started using the claim ‘freshly baked today’ to advertise products that were manufactured elsewhere (in some cases overseas) and merely re-baked in store. 

As the result of a complaint by the Real Bread Campaign, the UK’s 6^th largest supermarket chain’s in-store ‘bakery’ marketing is already under investigation by the company’s Primary Authority for trading standards.

Submitting the new evidence to department of Manchester City Council, Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young said: “As audacious moves go, I think that saying this one takes the biscuit is appropriate, given that the ultimate root of the word means twice-baked.”

The law

Food Standards Agency (outdated but current) guidance states: ‘Terms such as “freshly baked”, “baked in store” and “oven fresh” may mislead consumers into believing that they are being offered products that have been freshly produced on site from basic raw materials. Some stores sell bread made from part-baked products that have been packed in an inert atmosphere or frozen off-site then “baked off” at in-store bakeries. Use of terms like “freshly baked”, “baked in store” and “oven fresh” on these products could potentially infringe the general legal provisions…’ 

These provision include Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, which states that ‘it is a general principle of food law to provide a basis for consumers to make informed choices in relation to food they consume and to prevent any practices that may mislead the consumer.’ More specifically, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires that ‘food information shall not be misleading, particularly: (a) as to the characteristics of the food and, in particular, as to its nature, identity, properties, composition, quantity, durability, country of origin or place of provenance, method of manufacture or production.’

The Co-op uses the claims ‘freshly baked today’, ‘freshly prepared instore daily’ and ‘from oven to shelf’ at stores in which ‘bread’ products are not freshly made from scratch. Products are manufactured elsewhere (even outside the UK in some cases) and merely loaded into what we call loaf tanning salons - ovens in which they’re re-baked to brown and crisp the crust. 

Alongside ‘bread’ products, prefabricated pastries might receive their first baking in a Co-op store but the Campaign believes this is still not what the average consumer would understand to be ‘freshly’ anything.

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 requires that: ‘The name of the food shall include or be accompanied by particulars as to the physical condition of the food or the specific treatment which it has undergone (for example, powdered, refrozen, freeze-dried, quick-frozen, concentrated, smoked) in all cases where omission of such information could mislead the purchaser.’  Section 6 of The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 states that it is misleading if ‘the commercial practice omits material information’.

The Co-op sells products that were made, baked and then frozen (or chilled) at one site, then transported to stores where they are re-baked, without declaring these facts at point of sale or on the company’s website. 

The Campaign believes this is misleading by omission and that The Co-op then compounds this with a range of claims to lead (or perhaps mislead) shoppers into believing a different story about the method, time and place of production.

For further details of this case, the Campaign’s complaints about other supermarket chains, and why all this matters, see Loaf-tanning salon lies?