Tesco has been accused of misleading customers with inaccurate claims that its baked goods have been made fresh in store.
The Real Bread Campaign (RBC) has claimed that Tesco falsely claims in some of its stores that its bread is baked fresh on site, both on its signage and on packaging, but in reality the products were previously baked in a factory and they brought
The organization alleges that many Tesco locations receive pre-made bread from a factory and then defrost it in on-site ovens, or as RBC calls them, “bread tanning machines.”
The RBC further claimed that Tesco claims its bread is “expertly baked” on the packaging, despite branches employing low-skilled staff with minimal baking experience to reheat the breads in stores.
Real Bread campaign co-ordinator Chris Young said that instead of having expert bakers and making fresh bread in-store, staff now load “pre-made products into the tanning salons”.
The Real Bread Campaign has accused Tesco of misleading customers with claims that the bread is baked fresh every day.
RBC claims the supermarket is in breach of consumer protection rules and has lodged an official complaint with the local authority that regulates Tesco – Hertfordshire County Council.
Chris Young wrote on the charity’s website: “For several years, Tesco has been closing in-store bakeries and making the roles of skilled bakers redundant, replacing the making of fresh bread with members of staff loading pre-made products into ‘ tanning salons’.
“We are saddened by the company’s audacity to tell buyers that things are expertly made, freshly baked, and surprised that they have been allowed to continue making such claims.”
“To be clear, this complaint is not about Tesco widely offering cheap products, but about how the company markets them.”
A Tesco spokesperson told Femail: “We are proud of our colleagues who bake high-quality, affordable freshly baked bread in hundreds of our stores, and have done so since we opened our first in-store bakery in 1968.
‘In some stores where we don’t have the space to bake everything from scratch, we work closely with our bakery suppliers who prepare dough for us that is baked by trained colleagues in the store every day.
“The signage we use in each store reflects the different ways we prepare bread, and our approach has been agreed with our Primary Trading Standards Authority.”
Tesco has 400 of 4,942 containing bakeries where products are made fresh from scratch.
The charity alleges that the British supermarket wrongly claims that staff bake bread in store throughout the day.
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council told Femail: “We have recently become aware of the issues raised by the Real Bread Campaign and are investigating the matter.”
It comes after Lidl was forced to change the name of one of its loaves of bread after being accused of misleading customers by calling it sourdough in a fierce dispute.
The Sourdough Rye Crusty Bloomer is now called the Crusty Wheat and Rye Bloomer after a customer complained in June that the ‘sourfaux’ was made with 56 percent wheat flour and only 12 percent rye flour.
Lidl rejected the complaint, but campaign group Real Bread Campaign argued the name was misleading because baker’s yeast was included in the recipe, in contravention of traditional sourdough ingredients.
Sourdough is usually made using a live “starter”, a paste formed from flour and water that grows natural yeast and other bacteria, but Lidl’s recipe adds yeast to speed up the process.
It comes amid a fierce row over the naming of artisanal breads as campaigners push for laws to dictate what can be classed as sourdough.
After Lidl initially rejected the group’s complaint, the Real Bread Campaign took its complaints to Trading Standards.
When MailOnline contacted Tesco, a spokesperson said the advertising used in stores “reflects the different ways” the supermarket prepares bread.
According to the Real Bread Campaign, on December 1 Trading Standards confirmed: “Lidl has taken the feedback into account and is changing the name of its ‘Sourdough Crusty Rye Bloomer’ to ‘Crusty Wheat & Rye Bloomer’.”
Real Bread campaign co-ordinator Chris Young said: “We’re grateful Lidl has found a more appropriate name for the product, but we shouldn’t waste our time on individual cases like this.”
“Whichever party forms the next government, we urge them to introduce our proposed Honest Crust Act for improved compounding, labeling and marketing standards.”
He added: “In the meantime, we urge all bakeries and retailers to adopt the measures voluntarily, including displaying full ingredient lists of unwrapped products at the point of sale, so shoppers can make better purchasing decisions. informed”.
On social media he shared the news of the result and described Lidl’s bread as “sourfaux.”
The Real Bread Campaign is also pushing for bakers who sell unwrapped bread to display the loaves’ ingredients, in proposed legislation it calls the Honest Crust Act.
The Real Bread Campaign has claimed that Tesco is breaching consumer protection rules.
The law would include forcing breads with added leavening agents to be called “sourdough bloomers” or “sourdough flavor.”
Previous research by consumer website Which? revealed that a loaf can cost up to £4 in a bakery, but a fraction of that in the supermarket.
Of the 19 supermarket and brand-name breads it tested, only four earned The Real Bread Campaign’s authenticity seal of approval in 2018.
Which? said: ‘Many supermarket sourdough breads we investigated contained additional ingredients that allow a loaf to be completed in a couple of hours, making it cheaper to produce.
‘While these ingredients are not bad for your health or unhealthy, they are not present in traditional sourdough bread. And if you’re someone who chooses sourdough because it doesn’t contain added yeast, you’ll want to avoid breads that contain it.
A Lidl spokesperson said: “In a recent survey by YouGov, shoppers named Lidl as their number one supermarket bakery. Their love of Lidl baked goods was further reinforced last month at the Baking Industry Awards. Awards, after being crowned Retail Bakery of the Year.
“We continually review and update our bakery range to ensure we have the best offer for our customers at the lowest possible price.”