15/10/2026
Someone recently reported us to Trading Standards and we had a visit from them at Ilkley yesterday.
I'm very pleased to report that after they did a deep dive into our allergen understanding and labelling we got their stamp of approval, with one minor adjustment to make to our lemon curd labelling.
The reason the report was made was because of our "Wholemeal Sourdough". Since 2024 you can no longer call a loaf "wholemeal" unless it has 100% wholemeal bread, and the loaf we are supplied with is 60% wholemeal and 40% white flour. Someone came in to ask us about this and subsequently flagged it with Trading Standards.
We didn't have a clue about this and it seems we are in good company, as Ocado had the same issue not so long ago with their ex-wholemeal, now "brown" sourdough.
We've been discussing how we move forward with The Secret Bakery. We want to keep the product the same as it's so delicious, but it will be renamed either "brown" or "60/40" sourdough. They have advised us that if it was made with 100% wholemeal flour it would be like a brick, and no one wants to make their lunchtime sarnie with a brick 🧱
So for transparency, that's why you'll notice a change in our bread labelling, but it's still the same delicious product.
If anyone ever does notice anything with our products and services that we haven't got right, we would love it if you came to us directly as well so we can rectify any issues as soon as possible.
Running a small business is most definitely not for the faint hearted. Food hygiene inspections are one thing, but we've never dealt with Trading Standards before!
Now maybe they can go and visit some of the shops on the high street flogging illegal alcohol, ci******es and drugs? 🤔
