Should a Shop Be Allowed to Say Fresh When It Arrived Frozen?

I feel if it's sold as previously frozen it's ok, but putting it next to a oven implicitly implies it's baked.

I think most stores do that to some degree but its a rubbish process, many big supermarkets have their own bakeries where they bake bread fully from beginning to end but would use parbaking for smaller items like some cakes other smaller supermarkets, convenience stores or service stations use parbaking exclusively. The issue with parbaking is they add additional chemicals because of the freezing process and the bread is given huge amounts of yeast because only a subset will remain after the freezing process so if you are receiving a lot more yeast in the bread. There is also the factor that parbaking results in bread that is much shorter life when finally baked than conventional bread possibly because of the extra yeast so is often linked to more food wastage and not good for the environment. Parbaking is a low grade food product that is convenient for shops logistically with less waste for them and therefore more profitable, for the end consumer the advantage is smaller shops will stock bread and freshly baked products but if you have access to a proper bakery or a supermarket with a full bakery that is much higher quality option.

Most people don't care though, so much of our food nowadays is processed with additional chemicals added. However the issue is it can confuse people because they think the packaged bread is less good than the freshly baked bread when in fact its likely the packaged bread came from a full bakery and might actually be healthier than the parbaked bread that appears fresh. So proper freshly cooked bread is #1, packaged bread (Hovis etc) is #2 and parbaked is #3 but many would assume parbaked is #2 or even think its the same as #1.

I have to say Iv never taken this into consideration and would normally buy ' fresh' over packaged so this is really interesting to know BonzoBanana

MumOfThree I must admit it still smells fantastic but I worry abit about all the extra yeast, I mean yeast is a fungus and that may be why it is shorter life more of the dormant yeast becomes active so the bread is shorter life when finally cooked. Some people are allergic to yeast in bread although the symptoms may be mild.

https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-yeast-and-your-body

I just don't see the point you can often get normal bread for the same price anyway however I do buy it occasionally. My local coop often does it cheap sometimes less than 10p for a loaf or baguette after 7pm its hard to resist at those prices, I'm benefiting from its short life I guess. I bought one today actually for 12p about a foot, maybe 15 inches long.

I don't mind either its just having in the freshly baked section I feel really misleading. Specially ad you do pay more in marks.

MumOfThree I think M&S has some really great products and some of them are horrible...

I think there is a difference in freshly made and freshly baked...but like this u can buy the frozen pastry and bake it freshly at home...their plain u chocolate is one of the nicest....and plain u raisin is one of the worst.

Yes agreed, i sometimes have a problem trying to keep fruit fresh at room temp and out all goes off i wonder of its because it's kept chilled.

MumOfThree Indeed it is - I now keep apples in the fridge and they last for ages. Perhaps we should demand more locally grown produce. (like that's going to happen and be affordable.....)

I take your point but my concern is the method of preserving the fruit and veg at it's best now reduces it's 'at room temperature' stability. Chill containers have vastly improved in efficiency over the past 10 years to the detriment of it's 'use by' time at the consumer end.