Healthy eating spurs brown bread growth

A move towards healthier eating has seen sales of white bread fall for the first time.

Figures from Kantar Worldpanel, which monitors sales at the leading retail outlets, show that white bread sales in Britain dipped by 1% last year, while those of brown bread went up by 6%, with seeded bread products increasing by 9%.

The size of the white bread market still dwarfs that of brown however. According to Kantar Worldpanel white bread is worth £1bn annually while the brown bread market turns over just £423m; the seeded bread market is worth £101m.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Tesco bread buyer Alex Sillars said: “The recent sales figures are a significant move and reveal that more shoppers are looking for healthier options when buying bread.

“In recent years we have increased our range of brown and seeded bread as well as launching other healthier alternatives, and while sales of white are still roughly double to that of wholemeal it appears that a change has now begun.”