Organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games have ignored suggestions from The Real Bread Campaign (RBC) on the standard of bread and baked goods.

The Campaign sent a procurement document to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) in 2009 for its ‘London 2012 Food Vision’ consultation.

Jan Matthews, LOCOG’s head of catering, was unable to provide information on RBC’s suggestions regarding whether loaves served during the event will meet a number of criteria.

This included the production of loaves by independently-owned SME bakeries, baked from scratch in a London borough, made without the use of any artificial additives or processing aids, or choices that are representative of the cultural diversity of Londoners, London bakeries and Olympic guests.

Chris Young, RBC co-ordinator, said: “This is a huge missed opportunity for the Games to have given London a lasting loaf legacy of Real Bread. Why did they choose not to support the creation of skilled jobs at small, local, independently owned bakeries? How could they simply ignore this staple of our diet when they have set standards for chocolate and cheese?”

It is believed 14 million meals will be served during the Games, including 25,000 loaves in the athletes’ village.

Young added: “We love the idea that everyone attending the Games would have the chance to enjoy such
Real Bread, but we believe this is really just PR spin. Given that both the Games’ head of catering and press
office have avoided our questions, we strongly suspect that only a handful of VIPs will have the opportunity.”