Rothmasted developed wheat lines to be used in consumer focused project

(April 25, 2022) - A new project will work with the food industry to develop and market high fiber white bread, using wheat developed by Rothamsted specifically for the UK’s climate.

The interdisciplinary project team is led by the University of Reading, who will look at the supply chain for high fiber wheat production and the impact on the health of UK consumers.

Consumer acceptability will also be explored including taste testing of high fiber white bread in a major supermarket within three years.

Rothamsted, together with the John Innes Centre, had previously identified wheat lines with up to double the normal content of fiber in white flour and are developing novel high fiber types of wheat for UK farmers in collaboration with commercial wheat breeders.

When the high fiber wheat lines were first announced in 2020, it was hoped they could be in the shops withing five years – and despite Covid-related delays, the team are still hopeful we could see this milestone achieved.

Professor Peter Shewry, who oversaw development of the high fiber wheat says, ”This is an important step in our long-term aim of improving the health of UK consumers by developing high quality staple foods at affordable prices”.

The white flour also has the potential to be used in other baked goods such as croissants, naan breads and pizzas, which will also be investigated as part of the project.

Although fibre-enhanced “white” breads are currently available in the UK, most are actually made from wholemeal flours of wheat varieties which cannot be grown here due to the climate. They therefore have higher cost and lower consumer acceptability than conventional white bread.

The project will use newly developed types of wheat with high fiber in white flour, which can be grown in the UK, to develop new products to increase UK fiber consumption.

This is important because 90% of the UK population do not consume enough fiber, with an average intake of 18g per day compared to a recommended intake of 30g per day.

The project has been developed in collaboration with a major supermarket chain, their associated millers and bakers and a range of industry partners involved in wheat production and will identify what changes to the UK wheat farm-to-plate supply chain is needed to deliver high fiber white loaf bread to consumers.

The project is one of 11 receiving a total of £14 million in funding from UKRI’s Transforming UK Food Systems Strategic Priority Fund program.

Dr Marcus Tindall, Associate Professor of Mathematical Biology at the University of Reading and lead on the new project said:

“We are very grateful to UKRI for the award of this funding. It provides a real opportunity to increase the daily fiber intake of people across the UK, given the wide consumption of white bread.

“Our team are excited to be working closely with industry to develop the optimal high fiber white loaf, whilst utilizing predictive mathematical modelling to inform the transformations needed within the UK wheat chain to deliver high fiber white bread to consumers."