Marks & Spencer has extended its ‘Only… ingredients’ range with a new White Sliced Toasting Loaf and Sunflower Seed & Spelt Toasting Loaf.
The white bread boasts a clean label claim of ‘only 4 ingredients’ while the seeded variety states it was made with ‘only 6 ingredients’.
Ingredients stated on packs for each include multi-flour, water, salt, and yeast; with sunflower seeds and spelt added to the latter.
The two new loaves join white rolls, cereals, chocolate date bars, and oat milk on the M&S range, which caused quite a stir upon its launch earlier this year against the backdrop of the ultra-processed food debate.
While the bread newcomers had yet to appear in the ‘Only… ingredients’ line-up on the M&S website at time of publication, a LinkedIn post from M&S Food managing director Alex Freudmann helped announce their arrival.
Among a large number of positive comments were a few raising concerns about how the term ‘multi-flour’ had done some apparent heavy lifting to help the retailer arrive at its condensed ingredients list. “Your flour contains wheatflour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin and thiamine,” commented one user.
“That’s correct”, responded Freudmann, adding that the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 mandate made it a legal requirement for wheat flour milled in the UK be fortified with the vitamins. The same approach had been used to label the M&S white rolls with only 5 ingredients – sourdough culture being the one extra from the new white toasting loaf.
A statement from M&S said it had been thrilled with the positive response to its ‘Only… ingredients’ range, which it noted had been created for customers who are looking for products with fewer ingredients. “We develop all our foods using processes as close to the kitchen as possible and with ingredients you’d typically find on your cupboard shelves. This approach contributes to the high-quality customers expect from M&S,” it expressed.
The retailer highlighted that new Sunflower & Spelt Sliced Toasting Loaf was also a source of vitamin D. “At M&S we pride ourselves in offering choice to customers with a variety of options within the bakery range including Made Without Wheat gluten free bread, high protein, white, and wholemeal loaves,” added the company, which recently unveiled a Coffee Bakery concept at its new Food stores converted from 12 former Homebase sites.
No comments yet