Most London bakers are becoming seriously perturbed about the position of flour prices in relation to the official Food Council scale for bread prices.

...of all deaths every year are caused by poor diet, amounting to 69,400, according to a report commissioned by Gordon Brown from the Strategy Unit

The godfather of Allinson’s bread was a mine of wisdom – and it wasn’t all bread-related. A century on, his moral insights help us cast light on the problems of our own age.

"If we had to put one cake forward to the devil, I think the brownies would save our lives," says Nigel Green, co-owner of the ironically named Heavenly Cakes - presumably the world's first Satanist bakery.

Warings celebrated its 75th birthday at the tail end of 2007. And this Reading-based bakery went one better than a 75-candle cake - it treated itself to a birthday gift by splashing out nearly £75k on overhauling one of its five shops.

Much has been written and spoken about a crisis in bakery education as witnessed by the decline in the number of colleges offering courses in baking. This is linked to a shortage of skilled bakers and often doomsday predictions about the future of our industry.

British bread prices have risen by between 15 to 20% in the past year as commo-dity and fuel costs bite, but a loaf of bread is still cheaper here than in most of the rest of the world.

I am at last eligible for a government grant. After all, if illegal immigrants are being given a free flight home and £4,000 to start up a business, I think I must be eligible, as I will explain. And I do not intend leaving the country, so I will not even cost the government the airfare.

Associated British Foods, which owns Allied Bakeries and British Sugar, has reported a 13% rise in group revenue over the corresponding period last year, despite a 12% fall in sugar revenues, according to the company's interim management statement.

It was a bumper Christmas for two Midlands-based bakeries, which enjoyed record sales.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is to extend its collaboration with corporate giants. It will help them assess greenhouse gas emissions and create a single standardised approach for climate change information throughout their supply chains.

Carr's Milling Industries is to sponsor the World Marmalade Festival, held in February. This will mark Paddington Bear's 50th birthday and is designed to give "the traditional marmalade sandwich a make-over", said Caroline Dale of Carrs Breadmaker.

Stories of recession loom large in this week's media. The government's national debt is massive - as it tells us not to spend beyond our means, it is not so good at taking its own advice.

More than 200 people attended a public meeting in a Suffolk village last week to support their bakery, which is locked in a bitter dispute with the local parish council over access.

Bakery bread from supermarkets, tested for salt content by the consumer magazine Which?, fell within the 'amber' range - neither high nor low - under the Food Standards Agency's traffic-light system for food labelling.

The UK economy is in dire need of the construction of purpose-built, efficient and adequate roads to improve bakery delivery and cut the awful cost of congestion. UK transport needs more than a sticking plaster; it needs a major operation.

BakeMark UK will be staging National Doughnut Week from 10 to 17 May, giving craft bakers the chance to increase sales and publicity while raising money for charity.

A total of 41 jobs have been saved after Kirtons Bakery stepped in to buy the business and assets of UK Bakeries in Leicester.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched new TV adverts to encourage shoppers to opt for healthy eating by using traffic light labels. They come as an international study names the UK as the number one fast food nation.

With fresh fears of floods looming, a family bakery faces a possible 20% hike in insurance premiums, after being submerged in July.

The European Union's suspension of import duties on cereals will not have a significant impact on prices, because most of the imported wheat used in flour is of high quality and duty is already set at zero, Alex Waugh, director general of the National Association of British and Irish Millers told British Baker last week.

Management at the Park Cake Bakery in Bolton, Lancashire, have begun talks with the workforce over plans to cut 40 jobs.

Tesco said it would have to make "customer-led decisions" this year, following plans to slim down its product range and launch fewer products than in 2007, in a bid to drive availa- bility and quality.

n UK retailer Waitrose is set to expand overseas, after signing a licensing deal with Dubai-based Spinneys. The first store is to open in Dubai in April, with an agreement to open more than 20 sites in the United Arab Emirates by 2010.

“The 12 months ahead promise to offer significant competition across the grocery sector” – Market analyst IGD sticks its neck out

A company in the US is taking waste carbon dioxide from power station chimneys and mixing it with sodium hydroxide to make baking soda. Waste CO2, it is claimed, can be captured in baking soda, ultimately reducing the greenhouse effect, according to Joe David Jones, head of the company Skyonic, which got the idea from an old college textbook. With the current craze for marketing provenance, will we soon be seeing ‘power station provenance’ such as ‘Traditional Drax Dumplings’ or ‘Authentic Sizewell Simnel Cake’?

Those good people at Allinson’s have sent us the writings of their founder, the 19th century physician and wholemeal bread-fixated Dr Thomas Allinson, and they make eye-opening reading. It dawned on us that each seasoned insight might help us solve a problem of our modern age.

Ever been asked, “What would you like to drink?” and replied, “Anything” or “Whatever”? Then Singapore drinks company Out of the Box has the perfect brands for you: Anything and Whatever. Anything comes in six carbonated varieties – Cola with Lemon, Apple, Fizz Up, Cloudy Lemon and Root Beer – while Whatever is still in Ice Lemon Tea, Peach Tea, Jasmine Green Tea, White Grape Tea, Apple Tea and Chrysanthemum Tea variants. The twist is you don’t know which you’re getting until you taste it! The drinks are reportedly creating a buzz among teens. What next? Mystery muffins, perhaps?

Tinone has developed a device that brands your toast with your football team’s initials or national flag. At Ipswich Football Club, they sold out within two days – at a crisp £45 a pop!

The all-new Baking Industry Exhibition is just three months away. Following massive investment in visitor attractions, the show will take over from Food & Bake and build on past events to make this the best UK bakery trade show ever!

Since winning a Baking Industry Award in September last year, you'd expect potential new customers to be making a beeline for Kent-based Monty's Bakehouse, banging on the bakery's doors. Except there is no Bakehouse as such; the firm outsources its manufacturing to a third party. Anyone setting their Sat Nav for the bakery would likely find themselves in Cornwall.

What have fishermen got that bakers don't - apart from whiffy hands and a taste for horrible mints? A national centre for skills, that's what. Meanwhile baking, possibly the oldest profession (behind the illegal one that also involves fishnets), has had to put up with businesses, skills providers and government all pulling in different directions.

In December 2007, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) concluded that mandatory restrictions on trans fats should not be imposed.

Michele Young

Strong demand during the Christmas period helped Northern Food's bakery division to a third quarter increase in underlying revenue of 4.2%, according to an interim management statement.

Finsbury Food Group has experienced strong growth across its businesses "broadly in line with expectations and despite challenging market conditions", chief executive Dave Brooks said following the company's latest update on trading.

In its latest bakery report, research company Mintel found that sales in the US cookie and biscuit market grew 14% during 2002-07. The market was worth $5.9bn in 2007.

"The biggest challenge in 2007 by far, was prices." Not my words but those of Peter Williams, bakery director of that excellent business Simmons of Hatfield (pg 13). And they are words that continue to be echoed across this issue and the whole industry.

London flour miller GR Wright & Sons has appointed Julian Woodgate to its board.

We breathed a sigh of relief at the Chief Medical Officer's recent intervention to stall the Food Standards Agency's (FSA's) proposal to fortify bread with folic acid.

The food exhibition SIGEP will take place at Rimini Fiera in Italy from 26-30 January 2008.

Duke Street Capital, private equity owners of confectionery manufacturer Burton's Foods, has acquired Gateshead-based Northumbrian Fine Foods for an undisclosed sum.

Double D Food Engineering is to provide training to its customers, helping them to get the best from its range of ovens, provers and retarder provers.

Premier Foods said it expected to hit its 2008 profit targets despite a decline in branded sales in the second half of 2007.

The Pensions Bill 2007, which reached its second reading in Parliament last week, could hit the baking industry hard if it becomes law. That's the view of pensions consultancy Aon, which said the Bill will cost UK companies an extra £4bn, if it is passed.

Warburtons and the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) have reached a pay agreement following the threat of strike action.

A North Hampshire baker is planning to seek compensation from Thames Water because the closure of the main road through his village is costing his business £400 a day.

bakery market was worth £42m in the year to November 2007, representing a small proportion of the total organic food market in the UK, which stands at £2bn.

Spiralling flour and fuel costs have helped propel the UK up the global ranking for bread prices, but the country remains one of the cheapest places to buy bread in the world.

n Starbucks' US chairman and former chief executive, Howard Schultz will immediately replace chief executive Jim Donald. Starbucks said the leadership shuffle is part of a series of initiatives to help improve its performance.

In its latest bakery report, research company Mintel found that sales in the US cookie and biscuit market grew 14% during 2002-07. The market was worth $5.9bn in 2007.

"The biggest challenge in 2007 by far, was prices." Not my words but those of Peter Williams, bakery director of that excellent business Simmons of Hatfield (pg 13). And they are words that continue to be echoed across this issue and the whole industry.

London flour miller GR Wright & Sons has appointed Julian Woodgate to its board.

We breathed a sigh of relief at the Chief Medical Officer's recent intervention to stall the Food Standards Agency's (FSA's) proposal to fortify bread with folic acid.

The food exhibition SIGEP will take place at Rimini Fiera in Italy from 26-30 January 2008.

Duke Street Capital, private equity owners of confectionery manufacturer Burton's Foods, has acquired Gateshead-based Northumbrian Fine Foods for an undisclosed sum.

Double D Food Engineering is to provide training to its customers, helping them to get the best from its range of ovens, provers and retarder provers.

Premier Foods said it expected to hit its 2008 profit targets despite a decline in branded sales in the second half of 2007.

The Pensions Bill 2007, which reached its second reading in Parliament last week, could hit the baking industry hard if it becomes law. That's the view of pensions consultancy Aon, which said the Bill will cost UK companies an extra £4bn, if it is passed.

Warburtons and the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) have reached a pay agreement following the threat of strike action.

A North Hampshire baker is planning to seek compensation from Thames Water because the closure of the main road through his village is costing his business £400 a day.

bakery market was worth £42m in the year to November 2007, representing a small proportion of the total organic food market in the UK, which stands at £2bn.

Spiralling flour and fuel costs have helped propel the UK up the global ranking for bread prices, but the country remains one of the cheapest places to buy bread in the world.

n Starbucks' US chairman and former chief executive, Howard Schultz will immediately replace chief executive Jim Donald. Starbucks said the leadership shuffle is part of a series of initiatives to help improve its performance.

Warburtons and the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) have reached a pay agreement following the threat of strike action.

A North Hampshire baker is planning to seek compensation from Thames Water because the closure of the main road through his village is costing his business £400 a day.

bakery market was worth £42m in the year to November 2007, representing a small proportion of the total organic food market in the UK, which stands at £2bn.

Spiralling flour and fuel costs have helped propel the UK up the global ranking for bread prices, but the country remains one of the cheapest places to buy bread in the world.

n Starbucks' US chairman and former chief executive, Howard Schultz will immediately replace chief executive Jim Donald. Starbucks said the leadership shuffle is part of a series of initiatives to help improve its performance.

"The biggest challenge in 2007 by far, was prices." Not my words but those of Peter Williams, bakery director of that excellent business Simmons of Hatfield (pg 13). And they are words that continue to be echoed across this issue and the whole industry.

London flour miller GR Wright & Sons has appointed Julian Woodgate to its board.

We breathed a sigh of relief at the Chief Medical Officer's recent intervention to stall the Food Standards Agency's (FSA's) proposal to fortify bread with folic acid.

The food exhibition SIGEP will take place at Rimini Fiera in Italy from 26-30 January 2008.

Duke Street Capital, private equity owners of confectionery manufacturer Burton's Foods, has acquired Gateshead-based Northumbrian Fine Foods for an undisclosed sum.

Double D Food Engineering is to provide training to its customers, helping them to get the best from its range of ovens, provers and retarder provers.

Premier Foods said it expected to hit its 2008 profit targets despite a decline in branded sales in the second half of 2007.

The Pensions Bill 2007, which reached its second reading in Parliament last week, could hit the baking industry hard if it becomes law. That's the view of pensions consultancy Aon, which said the Bill will cost UK companies an extra £4bn, if it is passed.

Warburtons and the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) have reached a pay agreement following the threat of strike action.

A North Hampshire baker is planning to seek compensation from Thames Water because the closure of the main road through his village is costing his business £400 a day.

bakery market was worth £42m in the year to November 2007, representing a small proportion of the total organic food market in the UK, which stands at £2bn.

Spiralling flour and fuel costs have helped propel the UK up the global ranking for bread prices, but the country remains one of the cheapest places to buy bread in the world.

n Starbucks' US chairman and former chief executive, Howard Schultz will immediately replace chief executive Jim Donald. Starbucks said the leadership shuffle is part of a series of initiatives to help improve its performance.

Warburtons and the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) have reached a pay agreement following the threat of strike action.

A North Hampshire baker is planning to seek compensation from Thames Water because the closure of the main road through his village is costing his business £400 a day.

bakery market was worth £42m in the year to November 2007, representing a small proportion of the total organic food market in the UK, which stands at £2bn.

Spiralling flour and fuel costs have helped propel the UK up the global ranking for bread prices, but the country remains one of the cheapest places to buy bread in the world.

n Starbucks' US chairman and former chief executive, Howard Schultz will immediately replace chief executive Jim Donald. Starbucks said the leadership shuffle is part of a series of initiatives to help improve its performance.

Double D Food Engineering is to provide training to its customers, helping them to get the best from its range of ovens, provers and retarder provers.

Premier Foods said it expected to hit its 2008 profit targets despite a decline in branded sales in the second half of 2007.

The Pensions Bill 2007, which reached its second reading in Parliament last week, could hit the baking industry hard if it becomes law. That's the view of pensions consultancy Aon, which said the Bill will cost UK companies an extra £4bn, if it is passed.

Warburtons and the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) have reached a pay agreement following the threat of strike action.

A North Hampshire baker is planning to seek compensation from Thames Water because the closure of the main road through his village is costing his business £400 a day.

bakery market was worth £42m in the year to November 2007, representing a small proportion of the total organic food market in the UK, which stands at £2bn.

Spiralling flour and fuel costs have helped propel the UK up the global ranking for bread prices, but the country remains one of the cheapest places to buy bread in the world.

n Starbucks' US chairman and former chief executive, Howard Schultz will immediately replace chief executive Jim Donald. Starbucks said the leadership shuffle is part of a series of initiatives to help improve its performance.

In 2007 the baking industry saw a tumultuous year of unprecedented across-the-board ingredients price rises in everything from flour to eggs, the emergence of carbon labelling and the rapid rise of the Polish bread market. So what's in store for this year? One thing that ain't gonna happen is a ban on thick sliced bread (BB, 7 Dec, pg 6)...or will it? Here are the runners and riders for 2008.

Bakery products must taste fantastic and be of great quality. That, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Sainsbury's bakery buyer Sarah Mackenzie's advice to potential bakery suppliers.

The year 2007 will be remembered as one of extraordinary change on the high street, as 'deskilled' bakery formats such as Subway and Costa Coffee stormed the UK, trading in the same territory as the modern baker's shop.

There are plenty of bakers in my home town of Bridport in Dorset, all well-established and apparently holding their own, although their turnover has been affected for the worse by the edge-of-town supermarket.

If you indulge in 'income-shifting', such as between husbands and wives in business, it seems the taxman will take an increased interest in your affairs from April 2008 - and may well shift a further tax bill your way.

How does one retire gracefully? This is a problem that all of us have either met or, I sincerely hope, will meet. Remember, you young ones, the time will come when you will be old. So please give those of us approaching old age plenty of respect.

London bakeries keen to organise events highlighting sustainable business practices, such as organic or Fairtrade sourcing, are eligible for grants under a new scheme.

Bakery Services has sold its two operating divisions, Inbake and Don Millers, to current directors Keith Bentley and David Drury for £50,000, after a shareholder meeting on 28 December.

Carr's Milling Industries said last week that profitability in its flour business was "unsatisfactory" despite two price increases since August.

Bakery chain Greggs this week reported a 5.6% increase in its like-for-like sales over the Christmas period, the four weeks to 5 January.

This week we kick off the year with Britain's Top 50 bakery retailers (pg 4, 16-18,) covering those who sell, but do not necessarily make, baked goods. Last year, a number of craft bakers told me that coffee and sandwich shops were not bakers as they make nothing, and I agree.

British Baker's latest online poll suggests bakers are concerned that the skills shortage is the biggest issue facing the industry in 2008.

Health remained at the top of the agenda in 2007 and folic fortification was at the forefront of last year's health debate.

Greencore said it had diversified into alternative customer channels with the purchase of Taunton-based desserts group Ministry of Cake in December.

Asda has cut artificial colours and flavours from all of its 9,000 own-label products.

Real Good Food Company's group MD Stephen Heslop is reviewing all divisions due to challenging trading conditions, it was revealed in a pre-Christmas trading update.

Scottish ingredients supplier Macphie of Glenbervie has predicted a tough road ahead despite record profits last year.

British Bakels MD Paul Morrow has been promoted to the two-strong executive committee that runs the Bakels group worldwide.

Bakery chain Greggs has topped British Baker's annual Top 50 bakery retailers list for the second year running, despite mounting competition from franchise chains, including sandwich giant Subway and cafe operator Costa Coffee.

n We enclose the British Baker 2008 yearplanner with this issue. Unfortunately there was a production error on the version sent out last year, please discard it. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Established in 1932, village bakery Warings has invested in a major refurb that brings the shop up to date while maintaining its traditional feel. See 25 Jan British Baker