Orla Donohoe, Food and Beverage Division, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board

Ireland’s inaugural National Bread Week was recently launched, with bakers and retailers across the country running a week long programme of activities including promotions, events, tastings and special offers.

The campaign – organised on behalf of Ireland’s bread industry by the Flour, Confectioners and Bakery Association – aimed to celebrate all that is great about Irish bread, encouraging consumers to “Love Your Loaf”. The campaign provided an opportunity to remind consumers of the benefits and versatility of bread, as well as learning about the different types of bread available and their heritage, and sharing bread recipes and images.

Recent research undertaken by Bord Bia shows a changing relationship between consumers and their bread consumption with 47% of shoppers reporting a change in their baked goods spend in the past 12 months in RoI. With 57% of consumers saying that they can’t imagine life without bread, the key challenge for bakeries is to appeal to the consumer desire for freshly baked products (60%), natural ingredients (50%), and a greater variety of product (41%). Packaged sliced pans are still the most popular bread purchased in Ireland with 71% of consumers reporting weekly purchases, baguettes coming in at 45% and soda bread at 43%.

The full research report can be viewed here.

To celebrate one of Ireland’s most iconic breads, Ireland’s largest ever soda bread was baked during National Bread Week, weighing in at 250kg, measuring 2 metres and taking a full 3 and a half hours to bake. In order to preserve and protect this Irish tradition and recipe, the bread industry now plans to apply to the EU for TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) status for Irish soda bread.

For more information contact orla.donohoe@bordbia.ie