M&S has changed the labelling and name of its ‘Only 4 Ingredients White Sliced Toasting Loaf’ to ‘Only 6 Ingredients…’ after a campaign group’s complaint to Trading Standards.
The retailer has taken a similar step with an ‘Only 6 Ingredients Sunflower Seed and Spelt Sliced Toasting Loaf’, which is now ‘Only 8 Ingredients…’
The Real Bread Campaign complained to Trading Standards last year about a “numerical mismatch” in labelling claims on bread products in M&S’s Only… Ingredients range, pointing out more ingredients were listed in the legal declaration on the back of pack.
The campaign group has also received an update from Trading Standards saying M&S has given a timescale for correcting labelling claims on its Only 5 Ingredients White Rolls.
In all three cases, M&S listed the single ingredient ‘multi-flour’ on the front of pack. M&S’s latest front-of-pack label for the two loaves no longer mentions ‘multi-flour’, instead listing three types of wheatflour. The labels have also gained a footnote saying: ‘See reverse for further details.’
The Trading Standards update about the white rolls, received by the Real Bread Campaign on 28 January, said new labelling would be implemented by M&S as existing stock sold. It said the revised artwork was expected to be in the market during the first quarter of the new financial year, with April or May the best estimate.
“I think it’s great that M&S has identified that people want to see fewer ingredients and additives on lists, but I think they overstepped the mark here,” Real Bread Campaign co-ordinator Chris Young told The Grocer. “They’ve tried to say there are fewer than there is to make it look, for want of a better word, cleaner.”
The Real Bread Campaign also complained to Trading Standards about M&S’s Light Rye Flour and the front-of-pack claim ‘ancient wheat variety’, calling it a “factually inaccurate” description of modern rye.
“Rye is not any sort of wheat, and we found the particular rye being used is actually a modern hybrid,” said Young.
“We went to M&S and they didn’t do anything about it so we went to Trading Standards, and it takes months and months.”
The Trading Standards update said revised rye flour packaging had arrived on site with M&S suppliers, and the retailer anticipated stock transition during February, subject to normal production and distribution timelines.
“We welcome this news and look forward to seeing M&S introduce new labelling and marketing that is legally compliant, factually correct and free from misleading claims,” said Young.
“It is frustrating when big corporations cause unnecessary extra work for an overstretched Trading Standards service, and continue profiting from people’s trust during the many months it often takes to resolve cases.”
M&S was approached for comment.
The Real Bread Campaign, run by charity Sustain, has been battling for a decade for ‘real bread’ to be legally defined as meaning baked without chemical raising agents, processing aids or other additives. The campaign stages the annual Real Bread Week to celebrate additive-free bread, with this year’s event due to take place from 21 February to 1 March.
M&S launched its Only… Ingredients range last spring. In January this year it doubled the range with 12 additional lines including ketchup and sausages.
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The retailer appears to have adapted its labelling approach with the new additions, each of which claim the same number of ingredients on the front of pack as they list on the back.
However, the range continues to spark conversation, including a long debate on LinkedIn this week about the new Only 8 Ingredients Tomato Ketchup. “Here is the reality: the market-leading Heinz Ketchup also has eight ingredients,” wrote Emilia Bland, founder of marketing consultancy Löylymark.
Noting that M&S’s ketchup contains agave instead of refined sugar, retail strategist Phil Mc Mahon said: “Agave isn’t a health food, it’s just a different way of delivering sugar.”
Commenting as the new lines were unveiled in January, M&S head of food innovation Annette Peters said: “With refined sugar, there’s nothing but sugar, but there’s going to be other added elements with agave.
“Part of the brand values and the holistic view to this whole approach is to get as close to whole foods as possible, to get as far away from refined ingredients as we possibly can.
“So if we then put white sugar in it, would feel very incongruent.”
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