Earth & Wheat has shone a spotlight on what happens to bread that is ‘too ugly’ if it does not intervene which it has described as a continuing ‘hidden waste crisis’ in the UK’s bakery sector.
The wonky bread subscription service which redistributes odd-shaped or surplus baked goods has recently celebrated four years in business.
Founder James Eid insists the sheer volume of bakery products rejected for cosmetic reasons before they ever leave the production floor is still one of the bakery industry’s ‘major blind spots’.
Since 2021, Earth & Wheat has been redistributing imperfect but perfectly edible baked goods from independent bakeries after it started rescuing items such as pancakes, crumpets and flatbreads from Eid’s family-owned business, Signature Flatbreads in Bedfordshire.
Now five years on Eid is attempting to raise awareness about what happens when ‘ugly’ or surplus bread is not intercepted by Earth & Wheat and the answer is more wasteful than many realise.
Eid said: “Despite being fresh and fully safe to eat, thousands of bakery items are discarded each day for failing to meet strict visual standards imposed by retailers. Whether it’s a pitta that’s slightly too small, a crumpet with a bubble, or a wrap that folded a little off-centre, these products are deemed unsellable purely for aesthetic reasons.
“Shops demand consistency, and so too do consumers. So far, we have had limited capacity to rescue a fraction of what is wasted by bakeries up and down the country every day, so there is still a huge hidden waste crisis in the UK’s bakery sector. This is something we’re working hard to solve.”
Earth & Wheat claims to have rescued more 600 tonnes of food from going to waste and donated more than 300,000 meals to food banks and charities in the fight against hunger.
However, Eid says millions of tonnes of bread is still being wasted at a phenomenal rate every year in the UK. Bread is one of the most commonly wasted food products in the UK according to The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) with nearly 900,000 tonnes of baked goods wasted annually.
Eid acknowledges that consumer waste and supermarket overstocks are part of the problem, a large – but often invisible – portion of waste occurs before the bread even leaves the bakery. He states that none of the resulting options as to where the bread end up are appealing or indeed good for the planet.
““Bread that doesn’t meet cosmetic specifications and isn’t rescued typically ends up in low-value or waste streams such as animal feed where human-grade food is downgraded, through composting or anaerobic digestion – this recovers some energy but is far from optimal – or worst landfill,” said Eid.
“The gases released from breakdown of food contribute significantly to climate change. Little of this surplus is redirected to food banks, due to tight freshness windows and complex logistics. As a result, vast amounts of edible bakery goods are lost before they ever reach consumers.”
As sustainability becomes a growing priority across the food industry, Eid believes reducing upstream waste is not just an environmental responsibility but a business opportunity for the bakery sector.
Eid added: “Earth & Wheat’s model isn’t just about saving bread – it’s about changing how bakeries and food producers think about surplus. In an era where sustainability is becoming non-negotiable, reducing waste upstream may become as critical as reducing waste downstream.
“For bakeries, this means rethinking what’s “acceptable.” and re-evaluating what’s really “unsellable.” For consumers, it means embracing the beauty of imperfection. And for the planet, it means one less loaf in the bin.”
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