Frequently asked questions

All bread is good for you - and starchy foods should make up about a third of our daily diet. White bread is a major source of calcium in the UK diet and although it has less fibre than wholemeal, it still has 1.1g fibre in every medium slice. Our Tasty Wholemeal bread is a delicious blend of wholemeal flour and kibbled malted wheat. Not only does it taste great but it's a good source of fibre and of whole grains.

The aim of developing a range of breads is to produce great bread for all the family and every bread occasion - we're realistic about the fact that not all children (or even adults!) will eat wholemeal bread and Kingsmill 50/50 is a great way to give them whole grain goodness in their diet. In terms of fibre, our Tasty Wholemeal bread has 2.5g of fibre per medium slice, while Kingsmill 50/50 medium slice has 2.0g of fibre in one slice.

Kingsmill 50/50 with Omega 3 tastes like white bread but will provide you with more fibre than a traditional white loaf and gives you an easy way to top up your Omega 3 levels. It contains the very long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), from fish oils. EPA and DHA are considered the best forms of Omega 3 as they are ready for the body to use. Our aim is to help families top up their Omega 3 levels - Kingsmill 50/50 is one of a range of foods with Omega 3 on the market, although the best source is oily fish. Kingsmill 50/50 with Omega 3 has 47mg of EPA and DHA per 100g and 19mg a slice. If you eat 4 slices per day, you will get a sixth (nearly 17%) of your recommended daily intake*.

*Recommended Daily Intake of Omega 3 based on 0.45g per day, Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, 2004

Omega 3 fatty acids are essential because the body cannot easily make them itself; they have to be obtained from the diet. They are biologically active substances, which influence a wide range of functions in the body - DHA Omega 3 is a major constituent of the human brain and retina, and is also found in breast milk.

Nutrients are more concentrated in the crusts because there is less moisture, however, there is still a lot of goodness to be found in the rest of our bread and we're realistic about many kids' tastes- if they just won't eat crusts then it's just one less thing to worry about at mealtimes.

It's simpler than you might think! We wanted to ensure that it was just like mum would do, so we created a special machine, which literally cuts the crusts off once the bread is baked.

The crusts that are cut off our Crusts Away! loaves are combined into nutritious animal feed so that nothing goes to waste.

The bread is baked using specially chosen ingredients to give a really delicious soft texture with a fuller flavour. The loaves are cut and flour dusted on the top crust.

We’re constantly challenging ourselves to make our breads better. We’ve found that some people find it hard to buy a loaf of seeded bread that has a texture that’s right for all their family. Our new range is all about making it easy for people to find a loaf with their preferred texture, whether they love smooth bread or bread with loads of bits.

As our new range includes The Really Seeded One®, a lovely soft loaf that’s packed full of seeds and grains, we thought it made sense to replace Seeds & Oats with this new product.

Our new range is all about making things really simple. We know that some people find it hard to buy a loaf with a texture that’s right for them as some of the family may love bits, while others hate them! Our new range of deliciously soft seeded loaves offer a range of different textures, so that it is easier to find one that everyone will eat.

The Secretly Seeded One® is just right for those who can’t stand bits in their bread! Soft white bread baked with a blend of finely milled seeds and grains  for a great tasting, smooth bread.

The Lightly Seeded One® is specially baked for those who want just a few seeds and grains in their bread. We’ve added a sprinkling of seeds and grains to our delicious white bread for a great tasting, lightly seeded bread.  

The Really Seeded One® is perfect for those who love loads of seeds in their bread! Baked with a generous handful of mixed grains and seeds for a loaf that’s perfect for those who want that extra bite.

The Secretly Seeded One® is a unique combination of finely milled maize, millet and golden linseed. The seed and grain mix makes up 10% of the finished bread (the rest is flour, water and yeast, along with other ingredients). For comparison, The Lightly Seeded One® has 5% Mixed Seeds and Grains and The Really Seeded One® has 15%, so there are plenty of seeds and grains in The Secretly Seeded One®, but because they are finely milled there are no bits.

 

Seeds are naturally high in oils – the good news is that the type of fat that comes from seeds is the healthier mono and polyunsaturated types, while the one we really need to worry about (saturated fat) is still very low at 0.4g per slice.

 

Bread got some bad press in the wake of the anti-carb celebrity diet craze, but it's important to realise that carbohydrates are necessary as part of a healthy balanced diet and experts recommend that they should make up about a third of our daily diet.

Carbohydrates provide fewer calories (kcal) than the same amount of fat (carbs provide 4 kcal for each gram, while fat provides 9 kcal for each gram).

Yes - the key to looking and feeling great is adopting a healthy, balanced lifestyle and bread provides us with a convenient source of carbohydrates, B vitamins, protein and calcium in our daily diet.

The major cereal grains are wheat, oats and barley. Whole grains or foods made from them contain all the essential parts and naturally-occurring nutrients of the entire grain. Even if the whole grains have been turned into flour or flakes, they will still deliver the same great balance of nutrients found in the original grain.

At the moment, there is no recommended daily amount for whole grain in the UK but in America they recommend having 48g of whole grain a day (2005 US Dietary Guidelines).

Salt is added to bread to help control the fermentation of the dough. It affects the texture and the flavour of the bread. We have been working with the Food Standards Agency to gradually reduce levels to achieve salt targets for 2010.

Sodium is a mineral required to help keep the body in balance, but too much has been implicated in the causes of high blood pressure. Most sodium in our diet comes from natural or added salt (sodium chloride). Food labelling rules state that we must label the level of sodium in the nutrition information panel - we give the equivalent salt level as well, as most of us talk about salt levels rather than sodium. The salt figure is obtained by multiplying the sodium figure by 2.5 . The sodium and salt figures on pack are not designed to be added together as they are two ways of describing the same thing.

The only bread not suitable for vegetarians or vegans is Kingsmill 50/50 with Omega 3 because the omega 3 is sourced from fish oil (the most effective form).

All of our other breads are made only with vegetable fats and the emulsifiers used (E471, E472e) are sourced from vegetable oils. Any tin grease used is also made from vegetable oils. And all enzymes are suitable for vegetarians.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) front-of-pack "traffic light" nutrition labelling scheme is based on 'at a glance' key nutrition information of a food, using high (red), medium (amber) and low (green) indicators for selected nutrients. However, this scheme is based on 100g of food and does not consider portion sizes. We believe that labelling based on Guideline Daily Amounts provides consumer friendly information. You can see at a glance what is in a slice of bread or in one roll and how much of the GDA this provides.

We follow the IGD (formerly known as the Institute of Grocery Distribution) Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) Best Practice Guidelines regarding the declaration of GDAs. The IGD is a unique organisation in the UK as it brings together the food industry, food retailers, consumer groups and enforcement agencies.

Their guidelines state that if space is limited, we should show the GDAs for an adult in place of separate columns for men and women. Although there may appear to be a lot of room on our packs, we have to provide a lot of information and all of this has to be a reasonable print size to be legible, so we have found that the 'adult' figures the best way to incorporate the GDAs.

The IGD developed a set of GDAs for "adults" using the women's figures to encourage appropriate consumption, particularly amongst those with low energy requirements, so we are in effect giving a 'worst case' example on our pack.

While all of our bags are capable of being recycled, not all councils will accept them. However bags are recyclable through recycling banks, details of which are available on the WRAP (Waste & Resource Action Plan) website