Bakers missing out on wholegrain and omega-3 trends

Many bakers are not capitalising on consumer demand for wholegrain and omega-3 breads according to a survey by bakery ingredients firm British Bakels.

“Bakers are inclined to respond to what they’re being asked for, not what’s coming up,” said British Bakels md Paul Morrow. “The biggest change for us in recent years is that when we talk to clients, they want to know what their customers want. When you drill down, many companies have till data, but they don’t have analysts, so they’re asking us to look at the market.”

In order to reveal new bread trends, Bakels carried out a consumer survey. The firm discovered that wholegrain had a high penetration rate - 93% of consumers purchased foods labelled wholegrain or high in fibre and 47% purchased them regularly. “This is a missed opportunity for bakers as they are leaving it up to breakfast manufacturers to make wholegrain claims,” said Morrow.

To help bakers take advantage of the demand for wholegrain, Bakels is launching Multi Wholegrain - a bread concentrate made with wholegrain flour, which contains 60% wholegrain. The product allows breads to be labelled as high fibre and conforms with the 2010 Food Standards Agency guidelines on salt. It is the first ingredient in the UK to be awarded the US Wholegrain Council Stamp and Bakels hopes that bakers will be able to use the stamp on bread as an effective marketing tool.

The survey also showed that there were gains to be made from fortifying bread with omega-3. One of the problems bakery had was an ageing demographic, said Morrow. However, he claimed that omega-3 could help to break down age barriers as the survey found that omega-3 fortified bread was a high area of interest among younger consumers. “The younger age group of 16-24 year olds are over-indexing in omega-3 interest,” he explained.

While a third of consumers questioned had purchased, or were interested in purchasing breads, rolls or buns with omega-3, this figure grew to 40% in the younger age group. “I think Allied Bakeries now have the right idea as they’ve incorporated omega-3 into their best of both [white bread with the goodness of brown] product,” said Morrow. This appeals to younger people, whereas [standard] white bread is more associated with the older generation.”