Brown Bread Sales Up In U.K., As White Bread Sales Falter

A recent flood of seeded bread products has driven U.K. brown bread sales up, Kantar Worldpanel reports. The market researcher attributes the increase in seeded bread products, which are up six percent over last year, to changes in consumer use of bakery. More people are eating breakfast away from home, there is growing interest in alternative bakery products such as muffins and crumpets, and the recession seems to have dampened interest in mainstream staples like white bread. Brown and whole meal bread sales rose 6.1 percent in the year ended March 20, while sales of white bread dropped 1.4 percent, though some bakeries report a rebound in white bread sales in recent months.