The UK remains one of the cheapest countries in the world to buy bread, with prices in London and Manchester on a par with those in Lagos, Nigeria and Bangkok, Thailand.

"I missed the Mumsnet question about biscuits: the answer is absolutely anything with a bit of chocolate on it, but trying very hard to cut down"

For last-minute Halloween inspiration, see a great top 10 list of horror cakes here tinyurl.com/yjacvon with recipes and guides. (The 'Kitty Litter Cake', however, may be taking things too far!)

Forget Subway's "We've got a Sub for that" and McDonald's "There's a McDonald's for everyone" marketing campaigns, currently doing the rounds. Everyone knows it's the cake baker that has the monopoly on product personalisation no matter how lunatic the customer request. The beauty of this cake lies in imagining the taut conversations that led to its making. See: tinyurl.com/yg8kq2f

Is the coming of the Apocalypse going to be triggered by some baker Beelzebub? Thus pondered one dumbstruck Fox News host Shepard Smith, who ominously met news of the latest sarnie innovation a bacon and cheese donut burger by saying: "There are signs of the Apocalypse. I mean, you hear about them. This may be one of them."

Britain's billboard owners must love the Food Standards Agency. The wallpaper paste had barely dried on posters urging the public to watch their saturated fat intake by cutting back on biscuits, cakes and pastries when the government agency rolled out a new advertising blitz this month encouraging shoppers to check the labels of bread, pizza and sandwiches for salt content.

For long-established bakery chains, the idea of trying something new may seem like risky business, as existing customers will be used to particular products and price points. However, a number of bakery businesses, interested in introducing different and perhaps more premium lines, have come up with new shops to fit their ideas. We look at how two businesses have achieved 'concept outlet' success.

Ask most customers if they want a hot drink to go with their cake or sandwich and they might be tempted by a cappuccino. A humble tea bag just doesn't have the same allure as coffee, particularly if customers want to treat themselves. And let's face it, there's more theatre around an espresso machine, when you can make a bog-standard cup of tea at home.

It is the time of year when new wheat crop opportunities present themselves and bakers can benefit from the adroit use of knowledge of the new harvest to achieve effective cost savings on flour and other cereal prices.

I get by with a little help from my friends" is a familiar phrase. "I get by with a little help from my local regeneration agency" is, perhaps, less catchy. But that's exactly how one start-up bakery has managed to survive the daunting prospect of setting up in one of England's most deprived districts.

When Conservative leader David Cameron visited Cotswold miller FWP Matthews to see the company's new facilities and learn about a partnership with French miller Moul-bie, he was a little surprised to be asked questions by British Baker (see panel opposite page). Yet in a short, but wide-ranging conversation, he answered willingly.

The recession has killed off many things banks, bakeries and, erm, very nearly Iceland but try as it might, it has failed to knock the coffee shops off their perch. While Starbucks cut stores and Coffee Republic filed for administration, to hopefully emerge leaner and stronger, Caffè Nero and Costa have sat and watched sales sheets ticking over rather nicely, thank you.

If we were to believe the overused adage location, location, location, we often assume that this is critical to success, but how important is it? When the high street was the hub of every town, location was important and people would purchase their weekly provisions from local retailers because convenience was king, bread, bacon and broccoli all easy to find and simple to purchase.

Cumin is a spice that is used in many countries around the world, but in particular in India, The Middle East, North Africa and Mexico. It is also added to some European cheeses.

KeyChoc has launched new processing machines, designed to appeal to bakers and patissiers.

Mrs Crimble's free-from range has been refreshed to offer a wider range for consumers and to create a more uniform brand identity. Owned by Stiletto Foods, the free-from foods brand now includes light cheese crackers in Rosemary and Onion, Sun-dried Tomato and Pesto and Original Cheese flavours, as well as its more traditional products, such as frozen apple and rhubarb pies. The newest addition to the range is Mrs Crimble's fresh gluten- and wheat-free bread, available in both seeded and white varieties. The full range comprises cakes, biscuits, corn and rice cakes, baked snacks, bread, pastry and muffin mixes.

National Cupcake Week's overall recipe champion Mama's Cupcakes has launched a new winter range, including its competition-winning Black Forest variety a chocolate sponge laced with kirsch and glacé cherries.

By Max Jenvey of Oxxygen Marketing Partnership, a strategic management agency that focuses on business and brand development within the bakery foodservice and convenience sectors

A new Fairtrade bakery range, One World, has been launched by ethical foodservice distributor Peros. It comprises: traditional flapjacks; chocolate chip flapjacks; fruit flapjacks; large Eccles cakes; chocolate brownies; chocolate chip shortbread; toffee muffins, lemon muffins, chocolate muffins and blueberry muffins.

Delice de France has worked with Fayrefield FoodTech to develop a gluten-free bakery range. Delice said it has seen the category develop, to include not just coeliacs, but consumers who choose to eat gluten-free, due to other health benefits.

Rank Hovis has launched a new flour variant Hovis Multiseed which has been developed to meet growing consumer demand for seed and grain products. A blend of seeds and wheatgerm, the new variant is suitable for the production of tinned or handcrafted breads and rolls.

It was back in the 1960s when Roger Daltrey of The Who first belted out the classic "I can see for miles". It's the sort of song that pops into your head walking round Iba, the world's biggest bakery show.

Salt is yet again top of the agenda at the Food Standards Agency (FSA), with bakers seemingly obliged to stand in a continual firing line. Its new campaign encourages shoppers to look at the labels of foods, such as bread, sandwiches and pizza, and buy those with the lowest salt content.

According to a new IGD report, consumers will continue to be more careful about spending money in the future even once the effects of the recession have worn off. More than half (54%) said they would be more careful, whereas only 5% said they would be more frivolous, and 39% didn't think their habits would change.

Coconut: It is generally thought there is potentially less of a price downside on coconuts than a larger upside. Demand is also thought to increase as prices, helped by the weaker dollar, have improved.

For such a successful and progressive industry, we experience surprising difficulties in connecting up with the education sector to sell careers in baking. Among teachers, pupils and parents, the level of knowledge about what we offer in careers is abysmal. A great deal more work needs to be done but bakers and our suppliers cannot shoulder it all.

Hovis has seen its sales rocket by over a fifth, according to Premier Foods' third-quarter results.

Europe's flourishing coffee shop market could represent a lucrative new export opportunity for British bakery companies well versed in supplying the demanding UK market.

Cake and biscuit manufacturers are having to contend with wildly fluctuating sugar and cocoa prices, with little sign that the situation will stabilise in the coming year.

Aspin to the rescue

The UK remains one of the cheapest countries in the world to buy bread, with prices in London and Manchester on a par with those in Lagos, Nigeria and Bangkok, Thailand.

Bako golf day

The launch of a new sodium alternative has sparked a debate on the use of potassium chloride in bread.

LASER targets guests

Fine Lady Bakeries has announced plans to build a £20m bakery in Newton Heath, east Manchester.

Bakers fear a business rates hike will put even more pressure on their already precarious fortunes.

Consumer watchdog Which? said its recent consumer taste test of wholemeal bread showed it was possible to cut salt levels in bread and still deliver good flavour and texture.

Leicester-based flapjack, muffin and cake producer Blackfriars Bakery has invested £1.2m in moving to a new 36,000 sq ft factory, which will enable it to improve efficiency and develop a raft of new products for major customer Holland & Barrett.

Greggs plans to build an additional bakery in the south of England to support the proposed opening of 600 new stores.

Norbert Dentressangle, which took over Christian Salvesen in 2007, has been awarded a two-year temperature-controlled storage and distribution contract with baked goods manufacturer Speedibake. Part of Associated British Foods, Speedibake is one of the leading producers of own-brand bakery products for the UK retail and foodservice sector. With turnover of around £70m, it employs 600 people at two bakeries in Yorkshire and specialises in US-style muffins, traditional ball doughnuts, baguettes, garlic bread and speciality breads.

Multiple retailer Sainsbury's has announced that it is "on course" to be the first retailer to use 100% British flour in its own-label sliced bread.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reaffirmed its recommendation that bread or flour should be fortified with folic acid after considering updated information on folic acid and cancer from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).

Biscuit exports up

Greggs plans to build an additional bakery in the south of England to support the proposed opening of 600 new stores.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reaffirmed its recommendation that bread or flour should be fortified with folic acid after considering updated information on folic acid and cancer from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).

A breakthrough method to increase the shelf-life of bread by up to 14 days has been licensed to food ingredients company Puratos.

South Shields firm JW Rae Bakers has been rescued from liquidation by a division of Sunderland-based Monument Foods.

Wrights has unveiled a prototype flagship store and retail brand in Stoke-on-Trent, which the firm hopes will broaden its appeal to consumers.

A Nottingham company claims to have discovered a way of modifying salt, to provide more taste from smaller quantities.

Eminate Limited’s product Soda-Lo 20 could potentially help bakers achieve lower salt targets in their products without compromising on taste, it is claimed.

Wrights has unveiled a prototype flagship store and retail brand in Stoke-on-Trent, which the firm hopes will broaden its appeal to consumers.

The design, created by Dollar Rae, comes complete with a new corporate identity and colours alongside its ‘Freshly baked and ready to go’ sales message.

The new outlet, which started trading at the end of September, offers a broader product range than in its existing retail outlets, including made-to-order sandwiches, salad boxes, pasta boxes and new lines of savouries, confectionery and cakes, which will be refreshed each month.

The shop has been kitted out with bespoke-designed Tom Chandley turbo fan-assisted ovens, bake-off ovens with self-condensing hoods, walk-in chillers and freezers, and till points broadband-linked to the factory in Crewe for more efficient restocking of product lines, explained head of retail sales Neil Wood.

A Nottingham company claims to have discovered a way of modifying salt, to provide more taste from smaller quantities.

Eminate Limited’s product Soda-Lo 20 could potentially help bakers achieve lower salt targets in their products without compromising on taste, it is claimed.

“Looking at a level of 2% salt in a loaf of bread, we have been able to take it down to 0.6%,” commented Eminate’s sales and marketing manager Andrew Stacey.

The development of the product has also been helped by an Innovation Support Grant, of just over £4,000, from the Food and Drink iNet, which helped Eminate gather the evidence it needed that Soda-Lo 20 worked in bakery products.

It used the facilities and techinical expertise at Nottingham Trent University, which provided explanations on the function of Soda-Lo 20 in baked bread, said Stacey.

“This now forms the basis of a technical explanation of its ability to reduce salt content in bread, by as much as 70%,” he claimed.

A breakthrough method to increase the shelf-life of bread by up to 14 days has been licensed to food ingredients company Puratos.

Food scientists at University College Cork (UCC) developed the method, which has now been patented, using lactic acid bacteria. Puratos, which supplies the baking and confectionery industry worldwide, will upscale the scientists’ work to industrial level, before bringing it to market.

Professor Elke Arendt and her research team in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences have been working on improving the shelf-life of cereal products, by natural means, for the last 10 years, and had particular success using lactic acid bacteria in bread products.

The research revealed that “the incorporation of strains of lactic acid bacteria in bread not only improved the shelf-life of the product but had other benefits as well”. Its use produced a finer crumb texture and flavour, volume and nutritional value were also improved.

“Sourdough is known for its excellent taste and traditionally extends shelf-life,” commented Filip Arnaut, R&D director at Puratos. “Based on UCC’s new technology we will bring this to the next level. The new sourdough will have all the benefits of traditional sourdough and in addition extend the shelf-life of baked products, which is what our customers want today.”

Fine Lady Bakeries has announced plans to build a £20 million bakery in Newton Heath, east Manchester. Planning permission has been submitted for the site, which would become Fine Lady’s northern base.

Joe Street, managing director of the Banbury-based company, said the east Manchester location would offer excellent transport links both north and south.

“We don’t want to anticipate the outcome of the planning application but this is an exciting first step for us,” he said.

“We see this as a long-term investment in east Manchester, creating jobs and other benefits for the local community.”

If plans go ahead for the proposed site at Central Park, off Briscoe Lane, it could bring up to 250 jobs to the area.

Fine Lady Bakeries produces a range of breads, rolls and fruited products such as teacakes, which are supplied to leading supermarket chains, independent retailers, sandwich makers and catering companies.

British Baker is holding a round-table, The Big Bakery Debate: Saturated Fat and Calories Consultation, on Wednesday 21 October at the Landmark Hotel, London, and is keen to hear from industry representatives who would like to attend.

Fine Lady Bakeries has announced plans to build a £20m bakery in Newton Heath, east Manchester. Planning permission has been submitted for the site, which would become Fine Lady’s northern base.

lWhen Sylvia met David
BB editor Sylvia Macdonald grills Tory leader David Cameron at flour miller FWP Matthews' base in the Cotswolds
lIBA
We report from the German bakery exhibition to find out the latest machinery and ingredients news in Europe
lBakers' Review
The latest legal and business updates and advice from the National Association of Master Bakers

Attention is drawn to the fact that the minister of transport has made an order prohibiting, as from 26 August, the use on any highway by an unauthorised person of any vehicle painted to resemble a camouflaged vehicle in the service of the armed forces.

One of those bizarre factoids that often gets trotted out by analysts is that bread actually has a higher penetration marketing double-speak for how much a particular product is purchased in a particular market than toilet roll. It's in the high 90s percentage-wise. So how can we mop up those last few bread-dodging households? Stop the Week suggests a marketing campaign around these uncommon uses for bread, from the ever-relevant Reader's Digest...

Everybody loves a pun. Puns have been keeping journos at The Sun in gainful employmnent for years, especially when there's a bread-related story to write and they have to 'RISE TO THE OCCASION' and 'USE THEIR LOAF'. And so it is that we applaud the organisers of the Real Bread Campaign for continuing this fine tradition with a Twitter competition to find the best bread-themed song title. Here's the shortlist (you're not allowed to groan).

"Hovis bakes 3,300lb bread and butter pudding" was the eyebrow-raising headline in The Telegraph that stopped Stop the Week's week this week. "A bread and butter pudding weighing the same as two baby elephants has been unveiled," it unveiled.

I always prefer to top my cakes with fresh fruit, nuts and ingredients that work with the overall flavour of the recipe. It seems a shame to put so much work into getting a cake right and only to dust it all over with sugar-shock sprinkles or ultra-sweet fondant, unless I'm making a sculpture or the job absolutely demands it. You can usually come up with ways of using ingredients that work well with the flavours of the cake to decorate cupcakes.

Watershed moment alert: chocolate giant Cadbury is stepping up its activities in bakery. While you may have spotted the marketing splash about its switch to Fairtrade for consumer chocolate, you may not yet be aware that it is also ramping up the hitherto less-developed part of its business bakery cocoa supply. Such is the potential for Fairtrade growth in bakery, the chocolate giant is targeting craft bakers and bakery manufacturers by launching Fairtrade cocoa into the market.

So (drumroll please)... what's the verdict? "We can say that part baked technology is a good technology," says professor Alain Le Bail, co-ordinator of an EU-funded project that has been pondering the matter. Or at least it could be. It found that par-baked bread demands around twice the energy of conventional breadmaking if the partial baking and the final bake are done in a baking oven. Another problem lies with the freezing of par-baked bread, which demands a lot of energy, especially if it is likely to be stored frozen for longer than a month.

You could say that a baker's job is never done until they have produced a great product, delivered it in pristine condition and made it so enjoyable that shoppers come back for more. Reputation is all to the smallest craft baker or the biggest bakery food manufacturer. But it is only as good as your last delivery.

If interest in the recent National Cupcake Week showed us anything, it's that a huge cottage industry has sprung up in recent years made up of professional bakers working from home. It's not just cupcakes either. A wide variety of baked goods are being produced professionally in domestic kitchens.

The ancient concept of leavened dough dates back at least to the Egyptians, writes consultant baker Wayne Caddy.

Mace is the lacy, bright scarlet outer covering of the nutmeg. Once it is peeled away and starts to dry, it turns golden yellow. As blade mace, it is added to sauces to infuse flavour before being removed. Its flavour is reminiscent of nutmeg, but more delicate.

Don Williams, CEO of brand specialist Pi Global, continues his series looking at the secrets of building a strong brand

No one in their right mind thinks that a trip to a busy supermarket is fun. The purchase decision point is where the brand identity and packaging of fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) have to work harder than any other medium in the communication mix: right next to competition; 24/7; tiny little canvases in a sea of at least 50,000 'noisy' SKUs.

David Powell, Master of the Worshipful Company of Bakers

I am often told that in this industry 'the day you stop learning, is the day you go stale in heaven!' I have no desire to put this to the test, but so far I have found this to be correct. I've also found that the rate at which we learn, and the source of the information, changes over the years.

BakeMark UK's new thaw and serve Readi-Bake Mini Bite range has been created in response to growing demand for smaller treats, says the company.

Puddings & Pies has launched a range of 13 individually wrapped slices aimed at the snack market.
The range includes the company's best-selling Almond Slice, as well as a Triple Chocolate Chip Brownie, new Muesli Bar and a Yoghurt-Topped Raspberry Oaty.

Dairy manufacturer Pritchitts has launched Creative Base a product that combines cream with gelatine. It can be used as a setting base for a range of different recipes, both sweet and savoury, says the company.

Clean-label, functional ingredients supplier Ulrick & Short has been working on improvements to its fat replacer Delyte.

Five bun spice flavours Natural, KJB, Citrus Zest & Vanilla, Complex and Cinnamon Bark have been developed by Unifine Food & Bake Ingredients.

Sweet Freedom is a newly launched company producing natural sweeteners made with 100% fruit.

Ginsters is relaunching its individual 180g boxed pie range and launching new Steak & Onion and Peppered Steak varieties.

Lancashire-based Farmhouse Fare has teamed up with Lyle's Golden Syrup to launch a new luxury syrup sponge pudding.

The Handmade Cake Company has launched a range of cupcake collections.

Pantheon's TM Tabletop Mixers come with three aluminium mixing attachments, which can be easily changed by raising the mixer head.

Several Cadbury's biscuit products and a new Maryland cookies tub will be available from Burton's Foods for Christmas. The company has re-introduced a seasonal range for Maryland, with a 675g sharing tub and a White Choc Chip Mini Cookies carton (150g).

If you're making wraps, hot cross buns, part-baked bread, pancakes, crumpets, English muffins, brioche and waffles for supermarkets then pop open a bottle of Champers or more fittingly for these austere times an attractively priced Lidl Cava. If you're supplying paninis, bagels, sticky buns, Danish pastries and pikelets, then break out a slab of value lager, close the curtains and start weeping.

Bakery training provision is undergoing the most radical change in its history. Well, modern history at least. Ancient Egyptians discovering yeasted doughs probably required a bit more syllabus re-writing.

Bakers from up and down the land flocked to Manchester for Bakers' Fair, to glean some crucial tips in readiness for the run-up to Christmas. Machinery, ingredients, drinks, packaging and software systems suppliers were on hand to offer advice on the latest developments in the trade, while a line-up of industry experts took to the stage.

Almonds: Prices have continued to increase over the past month. Predictions are that total production might fall even below the 1.3bn lb level (590,000mt), when earlier forecasts were up to 1.65bn lbs. The short- to medium-term view is that prices will continue to rise, possibly until December/January.

As cocoa prices go through the roof, bakers are urged to source sustainably
The high cost of cocoa looks set to continue as its commodity market price globally reaches near-record highs. Chocolate makers have been stocking up amid fears of supply shortages from the Ivory Coast, a leading supplier.

Northern Foods has reported strong underlying growth in its bakery division, with revenue up 3.9% for the 26 weeks to 26 September 2009.

Despite the economic downturn, there has been an increase in the number of bakery manufacture businesses, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Recession hits Aryzta
Aryzta's UK and Irish business has been hit the hardest by the recession, said the company, as it announced revenue losses in its Food Europe division. In its full year results, ended 31 July 2009, the firm, which focuses primarily on speciality bakery, revealed a drop in revenue of 2.2% to 1.14bn (£1.0bn) in its Food Europe division. Operating profit rose 11.4% to 135,103 (£124,561).

Warrens Bakery staff have become the first to get a new-style qualification without spending time in the classroom, doing coursework, or exams.

Double D system
Double D Food Engineering has developed a Clean In Place (CIP) system, to meet the specific hygiene needs of industrial bakers producing speciality bread, where toppings such as butter, cheese, garlic, olive oil, ham or tomatoes require extra efficient cleaning. It features sparge pipes, which deliver a pressurised, heated, caustic solution throughout the oven.

Coffee Republic is on the look-out for 20 new retail sites, only months after being rescued from administration.

Pembrokeshire bakery Tan Y Castell Welshcakes has struck a deal with Arriva Trains to supply its 'Welshcakes Snack Pack' on board all the company's trains across Wales.

The National Trust is to launch its first branded bakery range in early 2010, and is on the look-out for bakeries to get involved.

Martin Lightbody has stepped down as chief executive of Finsbury Foods, and handed the reins to former chief operating officer John Duffy, as the group announced its full-year results.

Pasty lesson
More than 240 children aged five to seven from Newquay's Trenance Infant School in Cornwall learnt how to make Cornish pasties during a visit from Crantock Bakery, as teaching staff ran sessions on food production and nutrition.

Allied Bakeries could make up to 40 workers redundant at its Liverpool site after failing to boost its morning goods business.

Colleges are enrolling bumper student numbers on to bakery courses this year, with admissions up between 9% and a staggering 160%.

Sandwiches are suffering an overall decline in sales, but are still a top lunch choice, according to the latest out-of-home lunch figures from international market research company, NPD Group.

The Warburton family has announced with great sadness that Tom Warburton, from the fourth generation of the family business, passed away on Monday 21 September 2009, aged 83.

By Georgi Gyton

Bakers across the country are up in arms over the new Food Standards Agency (FSA) campaign, which aims to educate consumers on the 'hidden salt' in foods such as bread, sandwiches and pizza and urges them to choose products with the lowest salt levels.

SoHo expands offer
The SoHo Sandwich Company is branching out with a range of new products, which include a spinach and goats cheese tart with caramelised onions, brownies and a chocolate tart. The business supplies gourmet sandwiches, salads and sushi to private and corporate functions, as well as the wholesale and retail markets. It will also offer sausage rolls and pastries soon.

Northern Foods has reported strong underlying growth in its bakery division, with revenue up by 3.9% for the 26 weeks to 26 September 2009.

The National Trust is to launch its first branded bakery range in early 2010, and is on the look-out for bakeries to get involved.

The bakery range, which will sit alongside a wider branded food and drink line, will consist of three breads and five biscuit varieties, inspired by the Trust’s own produce and from traditional recipes held in its archive.

The development of the bakery range has been licensed to Rivermill, a food licensing and sales agency specialist, and MD Andrew Chesters told British Baker he was keen to hear from firms interested in producing products for the range.

Breads on offer will be a National Trust Stoneground Wholemeal Loaf, Milk Loaf and Barm Bread, part of a wider range of bakery goods from Rivermill.

The biscuit range will comprise Stem Ginger and Orange Marma-lade, Clotted Cream Rounds, Lancashire Lemon Curds, Golden Honey Oaties and Oat Crumbles.

Interested parties can contact andrew.chesters@rivermill.co.uk or call 0207 025 8718.

Pembrokeshire bakery Tan Y Castell Welshcakes has struck a deal with Arriva Trains to supply its ‘Welshcakes Snack Pack’ on board all the company’s trains across Wales.

The pack containing two Welshcakes has just been launched by the bakery and had been developed to cater for the snacking-on-the-go market.

“Consumers are becoming increasingly busy with work and general lifestyle. We felt there was a gap in the market for such a product, which is easily available and ready to eat,” said Tan Y Castell managing director Paul Mear.

“Arriva Trains is the first to take on board our Snack Pack of Welshcakes and we look forward to working together with them.”

The Welschcakes are made to an original farmhouse recipe and contain no additives or preservatives. The bakery also supplies to wholesalers in ambient and frozen formats.

Warrens Bakery staff have become the first to get a new-style qualification without spending time in the classroom, doing coursework, or exams.

Forty-two of the Cornish company’s store managers and assistant managers have just finished an NVQ Level 2 course in Food Manufacture Retail and Service Support Skills, with assessment based only on observation by their managers.

The course, developed by Cornwall College Business in conjunction with the food and drink sector skills council Improve, dovetails with Warrens’ internal training programme. It takes place on the job, and progress is recorded as employees carry out activities, or ‘taskways,’ correctly on more than one occasion.

Warrens’ eight area managers have been trained to teach and assess the NVQ. Senior area manager Andrew Cane said: “This qualification used to involve a lot of paperwork, which many employees were just not comfortable with. This is a million times better and we now just have to watch and ask questions.”

Warrens’ Heamoor store manager Alistair Sedgeman added: “It felt like I was just assessed on what I normally do day-to-day. It has helped sharpen my skills.”

Family-owned firm Warrens has 450 retail staff across 50 outlets and all will complete the course.

Northern Foods has reported strong underlying growth in its bakery division, with revenue up 3.9% for the 26 weeks to 26 September 2009.

Brand investment in Fox’s biscuits helped it achieve its highest brand share since 2006, and the firm also announced that a new marketing campaign for its Matthew Walker puddings brand will be launched ahead of the Christmas trading period.

According to Northern Foods, new discount lines in sandwiches and salads helped drive revenue in its chilled division, up 8.8%.

However, its “rationalisation programme” and the closure of a pizza manufacturing site at Poldys in Ireland last year contributed to the 7.5% drop in revenue within its frozen arm.

The firm also relinquished a number of marginal own-label contracts and terminated its Birds Eye co-pack agreement to supply individual frozen pies, thus enabling its McDougall’s brand to compete in this segment.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has kicked-off a massive campaign to educate consumers about the ‘hidden salt’ in foods such as bread, sandwiches and pizza.

The campaign, which goes live this week, features television advertising focused on pizza and sandwiches, and radio and print advertising on bread. It urges consumers to pay closer attention to the salt levels of foods they buy and to choose foods that are lower in salt.

The thrust of the campaign is based on survey results that reveal 77% of consumers are unaware that bread and breakfast cereals are among the top salt-contributing foods in people’s diet, according the FSA. 

“We’re not suggesting people stop eating or even cut down on bread or breakfast cereals, as they are an important part of a healthy diet. But we are saying take a look at the labels to find one that is lower in salt,” commented Rosemary Hignett, head of nutrition at the Food Standards Agency.

The FSA also commented that “supermarket own-label versions of some foods, including bread, are often lower in salt than the branded versions”.

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has voiced its support for food manufacturers who have reformulated recipes to lower salt.

“Our members are totally committed to helping consumers eat more healthily – and reformulation is just one of the ways in which we will continue to make a real difference,” said director of communications, Julian Hunt.

To read the full story and the industry’s reaction to this campaign, read the next issue of British Baker, out 9 October.

The winners of this year's Richemont Club of Great Britain competition have been announced, following judging at Bakers’ Fair in Manchester over the weekend.