The Bread and Flour (Wales) Regulations 2025

• Citation: S.I. 2025/88 (W.)
• Sections: 18

Section 1 Title, coming into force, extent and application

(1) The title of these Regulations is the Bread and Flour (Wales) Regulations 2025.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), these Regulations come into force on 19 February 2025.

(3) The following provisions come into force on 13 December 2026—

(a) regulation 3(4) and paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 in so far as those provisions impose requirements relating to the addition of folic acid to flour derived from common wheat;

(b) regulation 16.

(4) These Regulations—

(a) extend to England and Wales;

(b) apply in relation to Wales.

Section 2 Interpretation

In these Regulations—

“ authorised officer ” (“ swyddog awdurdodedig ”) in relation to a food authority has the meaning given in section 5(6) of the Food Safety Act 1990 ;

“ bread ” (“ bara ”) means a food of any size, shape or form which—

is usually known as bread, and

consists of a dough made from flour and water, with or without other ingredients, which has been fermented by yeast or otherwise leavened and subsequently baked or partly baked,

but does not include buns, bunloaves, chapatis, chollas, pitta bread, potato bread or bread specially prepared for coeliac sufferers;

“ common wheat ” (“ gwenith cyffredin ”) means Triticum aestivum L.;

“ flour ” (“ blawd ”) means the product which is derived from, or separated during, the milling or grinding of cleaned cereal whether or not the cereal has been malted or subjected to any other process, and includes meal, but does not include other cereal products, such as separated cereal bran, separated cereal germ, semolina or grits;

“ food ” (“ bwyd ”) has the meaning given in section 1(1) of the Food Safety Act 1990;

“ food authority ” (“ awdurdod bwyd ”) refers to a food authority in Wales within the meaning given in section 5(1A) of the Food Safety Act 1990 ;

“ ingredient ” (“ cynhwysyn ”) has the meaning given in Article 2(2)(f) of Regulation (EU) No1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers ;

“ labelling ” (“ labelu ”) has the meaning given in Article 2(2)(j) of Regulation (EU) No1169/2011 ;

“ sell ” (“ gwerthu ”) includes—

offering, exposing or possessing for sale, and

the extended meaning of sale in section 2 of the Food Safety Act 1990 as applied by regulation 13 of these Regulations;

“ wholemeal flour ” (“ blawd gwenith cyflawn ”) means the flour consisting of the whole of the product obtained from the milling or grinding of cleaned cereals.

Section 3 Essential ingredients for flour derived from common wheat

(1) This regulation applies in relation to flour derived from common wheat, whether or not mixed with other flour.

(2) A person producing flour in the course of a business must not sell flour derived from common wheat that does not comply with this regulation.

(3) A person acting in the course of a business must not import or move into Wales any flour derived from common wheat, or sell such flour imported or moved into Wales by them, which does not comply with this regulation.

(4) Flour derived from common wheat must contain the substances specified in Schedule 1 to these Regulations in accordance with the provisions set out in that Schedule .

(5) Paragraph (4) does not apply to—

(a) wholemeal flour;

(b) flour produced at a production site which, at the time of production, has—

(i) a maximum annual production capacity of 500 metric tonnes of flour or less, and

(ii) produced less than 500 metric tonnes of flour for each of the last three calendar years;

(c) flour for use in the manufacture of communion wafers, matzos, gluten or starch;

(d) any concentrated preparation for use for the purpose of facilitating the addition to flour of substances as required by paragraph (4).

Section 4 Prohibition on use of flour bleaching agents

(1) A person must not use a flour bleaching agent in the preparation of bread or flour.

(2) In this regulation—

(a) a “flour bleaching agent” is a food additive primarily used to remove colour from flour;

(b) “ food additive ” has the meaning given in Article 3(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on food additives .

Section 5 Requirements in relation to the use of the terms “wholemeal” and “wheat germ”

(1) A person acting in the course of a business must not sell or advertise for sale any bread in contravention of this regulation.

(2) In the labelling or advertising of bread, a term specified in paragraph (3) may be used as part of the name of the bread, whether or not qualified by other words, only where the requirements of that paragraph in relation to that term are met.

(3) The term—

(a) “wholemeal”, “gwenith cyflawn” or the equivalent term in any other language may be used where all the flour used as an ingredient in the preparation of the bread is wholemeal flour;

(b) “wheat germ”, “bywyn gwenith” or the equivalent in any other language may be used where the bread has an added processed wheat germ content of 10% or more calculated on the dry matter of the bread.

Section 6 General exempted uses

(1) Regulations 3 to 5 do not apply to bread or flour that is for any use other than for human consumption.

(2) But regulation 5 does apply to such bread insofar as that regulation relates to advertising.

Section 7 General exempted uses

(1) Regulations 3 to 5 do not apply to bread or flour that is for the following exempted uses if the exempted uses of the bread or flour are clearly indicated in English, or in English and in Welsh, on the labelling—

(a) bread or flour for export to a third country;

(b) bread or flour for use in the production of food that is for export to a third country.

(2) In paragraph (1), “ third country ” means any country other than the United Kingdom, and includes—

(a) the Bailiwick of Guernsey;

(b) the Bailiwick of Jersey;

(c) the Isle of Man.

Section 8 Restriction on use of exempted bread and flour

A person acting in the course of a business must not use, in the production of food, bread or flour exempted by regulations 3(5)(c), 3(5)(d), 6 or 7 except for a use exempted by those regulations.

Section 9 Enforcement

Each food authority must enforce and execute these Regulations in its area.

Section 10 Improvement notices

(1) An authorised officer of a food authority may issue a notice (an “ improvement notice ”) to a person if the officer has reasonable grounds for believing that the person has not complied, or is not complying, with one or more of the relevant provisions.

(2) The “relevant provisions” are regulations 3(2), 3(3), 4(1), 5(1) and 8.

(3) An improvement notice must be in writing, and must include the following information—

(a) the authorised officer’s grounds for believing that the person has not complied, or is not complying, with a relevant provision;

(b) the act or omission that constitutes the failure to comply with the relevant provision;

(c) the measures which, in the authorised officer’s opinion, the person must take to ensure compliance with the relevant provision;

(d) the date of issue of the notice ;

(e) the period within which the required measures, or measures which are at least equivalent to them, must be taken (the “compliance period”);

(f) details of the person to whom, and as to how and by when, any representations about the notice may be made;

(g) the right of appeal to a magistrates’ court, including the period within which an appeal may be made;

(h) an explanation of the consequences of failure to comply with the requirements of the notice.

(4) The “compliance period” is the period determined by the authorised officer and specified in the improvement notice, being at least 14 days beginning with the date on which the notice is issued.

Section 11 Offence and penalty

(1) A person who fails to comply with an improvement notice commits an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine.

Section 12 Appeals against improvement notices

(1) A person to whom an improvement notice is issued may appeal to a magistrates’ court against the notice.

(2) An appeal must be made before the earlier of—

(a) the end of the compliance period, or

(b) the end of the period of one month beginning with the date of issue of the improvement notice.

(3) An appeal is to be by way of complaint for an order, and in accordance with the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 .

(4) On an appeal, the magistrates’ court may—

(a) confirm the improvement notice, with or without modifications, or

(b) cancel the improvement notice.

(5) Where an appeal is made, the compliance period of the improvement notice is suspended for the period during which the appeal is pending.

(6) In paragraph (5), the appeal is pending until it is finally determined or withdrawn.

Section 13 Application of various provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990

(1) The provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 set out in paragraph (2) apply for the purposes of these Regulations—

(a) as if any reference in those provisions to the Food Safety Act 1990, or to any Part of that Act, were a reference to these Regulations;

(b) with any modifications specified in paragraph (2).

(2) The provisions are—

(a) section 2 (extended meaning of “sale” etc.);

(b) section 3 (presumptions that food intended for human consumption);

(c) section 20 (offences due to fault of another person);

(d) section 21(1) and (5) (defence of due diligence);

(e) section 30(8) (evidence of certificates given by a food analyst or examiner);

(f) section 33 (obstruction etc. of officers);

(g) section 35(1) (punishment of offences) insofar as it relates to an offence under section 33(1) of the Food Safety Act 1990 as applied by this regulation;

(h) section 35(2) (punishment of offences) insofar as it relates to an offence under section 33(2) of the Food Safety Act 1990 as applied by this regulation;

(i) section 36 (offences by bodies corporate);

(j) section 36A (offences by Scottish partnerships);

(k) section 44 (protection of officers acting in good faith);

(l) section 50 (service of documents) as if—

(i) references to “given to or served on”, and “given or served” include “issued to” and “issued”, respectively, and

(ii) references to serving a document by sending it in a prepaid letter are references to serving that document by post in accordance with sections 13 and 14 of the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 .

Section 14 Revocation

The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 are revoked.

Section 15 Transitional provision coming into force on 19 February 2025

Until the end of 12 December 2026, flour derived from common wheat which does not comply with regulation 3(4) of these Regulations in relation to a substance is nevertheless deemed to comply with that regulation if it would have complied in relation to that substance with regulation 4(1) of the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 as they had effect immediately before 19 February 2025.

Section 16 Transitional provision coming into force on 13 December 2026

(1) Flour derived from common wheat which does not comply with regulation 3(4) of these Regulations is nevertheless deemed to comply with that regulation if—

(a) it was lawfully placed on the market or labelled before the end of 12 December 2026, and

(b) it would have complied, or have been deemed to have complied, with regulation 3(4) of these Regulations as they had effect immediately before 13 December 2026.

(2) In paragraph (1), “ placed on the market ” means the holding of food for the purpose of sale or any other form of transfer, whether free of charge or not, and the sale, distribution and other forms of transfer themselves.

Section 1 Substances that must be added to flour derived from common wheat in specified proportions

The substances listed in column 1 of Table 1 must be added to flour derived from common wheat in the proportions and in accordance with the other provisions specified in column 2.

Section 2 Substances that must be present in flour derived from common wheat at or above specified proportions

(1) The substances listed in column 1 of Table 2 must be present in flour derived from common wheat in the proportions specified in column 2.

(2) Where the addition of substances is necessary in order to meet the required proportions specified in column 2 of Table 2, the substances must be added in accordance with the other provisions specified that column.