Bread: how to see it’s additive-free
Avoiding UPF? Read the label and look for The Loaf Mark!
Many people want to avoid Ultra-Processed Food (UPF), which includes the Chorleywood Process loaf and other industrial dough products.
The Real Bread Campaign runs The Real Bread Loaf Mark scheme to help bakeries give an at-a-glance additive-free assurance to shoppers. Below is a list of almost 140 bakeries that are currently signed up to the scheme.
Always read the label
The Campaign created The Loaf Mark as visual shorthand for bakers to show – and shoppers to see – ‘this bread is additive-free’. It's designed to be used alongside, rather than instead of, full ingredient declaration.
The only way to be sure that food is additive-free is to read the ingredients list. The trouble is that, in the UK (and elsewhere), retailers are not legally required to display this important information for food they sell loose/unwrapped. So-called processing aids don't even have to to be declared on pre-packed food ingredient lists.
From 5 July 2024, the Real Bread Campaign will be urging the new UK government to adopt its long-standing Honest Crust Act proposals for updated and improved composition, labelling and marketing standards. One of these is mandatory full declaration at point of sale of all ingredeints in bread (plus 'processing aids' and other additives used in industrial dough products) sold loose / unwrapped.
In the meantime, the Campaign urges all bakers and retailers to list this important information voluntarily – for example on packaging, shelf labelling or in-store signage.
The list
The following 139 bakeries have signed the annual agreement that they will only use The Real Bread Loaf Mark to market products that meet the Campaign’s definition of Real Bread, and The Sourdough Loaf Mark to promote genuine sourdough bread.
Hundreds more bakeries have added their details to the Real Bread Map, which has orange pins to show the businesses that have done both.
| COMPANY | LOCATION |
| 400 Rabbits | London |
| Almanac Urban Mill & Bakery | North Ayrshire |
| Amelia's Bakehouse | Surrey |
| ANUNA Craft Bakery | Ceredigion |
| Bake Barn | Rathcoole |
| Bake Dronfield | Derbyshire |
| Bake88 | Surrey |
| Baker in a Beanie | Somerset |
| Bakery by Knife & Fork | Oxfordshire |
| Barkby Bakehouse | Leicestershire |
| Barn Bakes | Devon |
| Becws Beca | Carmarthenshire |
| Bee's Knees Bakes | Dorset |
| Ben's Bakes | Cambridgeshire |
| Bertinet Bakery | London |
| Blackbirds Micro Bakery | West Midlands |
| Blackhill Bakery | Glasgow |
| Bob's Bread Bakery | Norfolk |
| Bread and Water | Cambridgeshire |
| Bread Bin | Cheshire |
| Bread of Haven | Norfolk |
| Briar Bakery | Devon |
| Brook Farm Bakery | Gloucestershire |
| Bruntlands Bread | Elgin |
| Cardiff and Vale College | Vale of Glamorgan |
| Cavan Bakery | Surrey |
| Chalk Hills Bakery | Surrey |
| Claire's Kitchen | Somerset |
| Cold Cottage Craft Bakery | Bedfordshire |
| Cranley Barn Farms | Buckinghamshire |
| Crazy Bakers | Bedford |
| Croft at Caorann | Inverness-shire |
| Crwst | Ceredigion |
| Crwst | Ceredigion |
| Cultured Bakehouse | Derry |
| Dainty Monkey Baking | Edinburgh |
| Dipple Bakehouse | Devon |
| Dollies Bakery | Norfolk |
| Dovely Bakery | Northamptonshire |
| Dr Bob the Baker | West Yorkshire |
| Dr Dough | Merseyside |
| e5 Bakehouse | London |
| Eastsheen Microbakery | London |
| Eat Your Crusts | Worcestershire |
| Ed Baker | London |
| Elphin Larder | The Highlands |
| Elsing Bakehouse | Norfolk |
| Eviedale Bakehouse | Orkney |
| Ferguson's Bakery | Merseyside |
| Fika+ | Cheshire |
| Flour & Time | Powys |
| Forno Pizza | Dorset |
| GAIL's | London |
| Gather&Grain | Manchester |
| Grain of Truth Bakery | Lincolnshire |
| Greenfield Bakers | Lincolnshire |
| Gretna Bakery | Gretna |
| Hackney Bread Kitchen | London |
| Hambleton Bakery | Rutland |
| Heritage Bakehouse | Oban |
| Hobbs House Bakery | Gloucestershire |
| Hunnypot Cottage Bakery | Staffordshire |
| Imma The Bakery | Oxfordshire |
| Infinity Foods Bakery | East Sussex |
| Jo's Loaves | Bedfordshire |
| Juliet's Bread | Devon |
| Katerina's Bread | Aberdeen |
| Katherine's Sourdough | West Midlands |
| Knapdale Artisan Bread | Argyll & Bute |
| Knead & Desire Bakehouse | Hertfordshire |
| Lekito | Buckinghamshire |
| Little Clowder Bakehouse | Lincolnshire |
| Loaf | Inverness-shire |
| Loaf Affair | Hampshire |
| LocoLoaf | Hampshire |
| Love That Loaf | Moray |
| Lucho Bakes | Devon |
| Lucy's Loaves | Twickenham |
| Ma Baker | Wrexham |
| Mamars Artisan Bakery & Delicatessen | Cheshire |
| Manila Artisan Breads | West Midlands |
| Martins Craft Bakery | Manchester |
| Miche Artisan Bakery | New Delhi |
| Moonlight Bakery | Merseyside |
| M's Bakery | Dorset |
| Myloaf | Vale of Glamorgan |
| Nancy Bakes | Madisonville |
| Natural Bread | Oxfordshire |
| Off the Rails | North Yorkshire |
| One Mile Bakery Exeter | Devon |
| Orkney Sourdough Co | Orkney |
| Pagnol | Los Angeles |
| Paindemain Bakehouse | Oxfordshire |
| Pan Bakery | Surrey |
| Pasteis Lisboa | Glasgow |
| Peter Cooks Bread | Herefordshire |
| Peter's Yard | Hertfordshire |
| Pete's Bread | County Antrim |
| Pinetree Bakery | Suffolk |
| PureKnead Bakery | Tyne and Wear |
| Rex Artisan Bakery | Buckinghamshire |
| Riverside Sourdough | Vale of Glamorgan |
| Roger's Bakery | West Yorkshire |
| Rosa's Bakery | Neath Port Talbot |
| Rush Creek Bread | Ohio |
| Rye and Roses | Powys |
| Scarpello Bakehouse & Pizzeria | County Donegal |
| Solaris Bakehouse | Berkshire |
| Sourdough Dave- The Artisan Bread Man | Derbyshire |
| Sourdough Sophia | London |
| South Downs Sourdough | Hampshire |
| Speciality Breads | Kent |
| St. JOHN Bakery | London |
| Stark Farm Bakery | North Yorkshire |
| the Bakehouse Bermondsey SE16 | London |
| The Bodicote Baker | Oxfordshire |
| The Bread Factory | London |
| The Cambridge Oven | Cambridgeshire |
| The Celtic Bakers | London |
| The Crow's Rest Bakehouse | West Yorkshire |
| The Crust Bacup | Bacup |
| The Culinary Kiwi Bird - Artisan Baker | Aberdeenshire |
| The Doorstep Baker | Worcestershire |
| The Fat Batard Bakery | Peebles |
| The Flour Station | London |
| The Grumpy Baker | Cardiff |
| The Hive Cafe and Bakery | West Midlands |
| The Little Sourdough Bakery | Farnborough |
| The Motley Way | Orkney |
| The Potting Shed Bakery | Suffolk |
| The Van du Pain | Devon |
| The Wee Boulangerie | Edinburgh |
| Thrift View Bakery | Bedfordshire |
| Two Magpies Bakery | Suffolk |
| Underground Bakery | North Yorkshire |
| Welch Bakes | Cambridgeshire |
| Willaston Country Market | Cheshire |
| Your Davey Bread | Berkshire |
| Yule's just delicious bread | London |
Photos © Katerina’s Bread, Chris Young (at St. JOHN Bakery) and Peter Cooks Bread.
Published Thursday 27 June 2024
Real Bread Campaign: The Real Bread Campaign finds and shares ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet. Whether your interest is local food, community-focussed small enterprises, honest labelling, therapeutic baking, or simply tasty toast, everyone is invited to become a Campaign supporter.
