Bread pulled from supermarket shelves across Britain - Iceland takes urgent action

Supermarkets across Britain are considering removing certain bread products from shelves in the wake of a possible legal battle.

The Real Bread Campaign says Iceland has withdrawn its own-brand half and half loaves from the shelves after the group lodged a trading standards complaint.

Jonathan Brady

The supermarket is one of five the campaign group contacted in June 2022 over the naming and marketing of the loaf, asking them to review the item.

The Real Bread Campaign say the word wholemeal “can only be used in a product name or marketing if all of the flour in that product is wholemeal.”

The group made official complaints to a number of councils across the country, with one referring it to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young 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.”

He added: “Evidently there’s an issue with the content, understanding and enforcement of current legislation, a full overhaul of which is long overdue.”

The campaign has followed up its complaint with Aldi, Hovis, Jacksons and Warburtons.

Rui Vieira

In January, the group challenged Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standard’s rejection of their complaint against Hovis, who later confirmed they had escalated the issue.

“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.”

They added: “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.”