A baker’s dozen of Scottish businesses awarded funding to make their recipes healthier

20 July 2023

Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Scotland - in partnership with Food Standards Scotland (FSS) - has provided funding to 13 well-known Scottish bakery businesses across the country to help them make their products healthier.

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Much-loved brands Aulds Delicious Desserts, Cobbs Bakery, Dean's of Huntly, Stoats and Stockan's Oatcakes have been awarded funding. While a whole host of popular high street bakers – the Bread Guy, Cuckoo's Bakery, Fisher & Donaldson, George Marchbank Bakers, the Hame Bakery and Three Sisters Bake - have received support. Specialist cake maker Northern Lights Cakery and the Bread for Good Community Benefit Society have also received funding.

FDF Scotland will support these food businesses with projects that will help improve the nutritional content of a variety of savoury and sweet bakery products including oatcakes, bread, cakes, desserts and biscuits. Some projects will help reduce calories, fat and sugar content while others will enrich products with fibre or fruit and veg.

The businesses are based in wide range of communities across Glasgow, the Highlands and Islands, Lothians, Mid Scotland and Fife, North East Scotland, South of Scotland, and West of Scotland – maximising support to improve dietary health.  

The Healthier Bakery Fund has provided successful applicants with funds from £1,000 to £5,000 to be used for a wide range of activities. This includes accessing nutritional testing and technical support, working with ingredient suppliers to access and trial new innovative solutions that can improve the health of products to developing new marketing and promotional materials.

Joanne Burns, FDF Scotland’s Reformulation for Health Manager, said:

“I am delighted to award funding to a wide range of popular bakery producers in communities right across Scotland. We had so many great applications – which gave the judges a tough time in picking the projects to fund.

“I can’t wait to start working on these interesting projects - together we will be helping to make some of Scotland’s favourite bakery products healthier.”

Lesley Curtis, Public Health Nutrition Advisor at FSS, said:

“Evidence shows reformulation, for example by reducing portion size or calories, is one of the most effective ways industry can help improve dietary health in Scotland.

"FSS is pleased to be supporting the Scottish bakery sector engage in reformulating their products, which can lead to a positive change to public health.”

The full ‘baker’s dozen’ of Scottish bakery businesses that have received funding from the Healthier Bakery Fund:

Stockan's Oatcakes (Stromness, Orkney)

Fisher & Donaldson (St Andrews, Dundee and Cupar)

Dean's of Huntly (Aberdeenshire)

Cuckoo's Bakery (Edinburgh)

Northern Lights Cakery (Argyll and Bute)

Bread for Good Community Benefit Society (t/a Scotland the Bread) (Scottish Borders)

Three Sisters Bake (Glasgow)

Aulds Delicious Desserts (Renfrew)

Cobbs Bakery (Inverness-shire)

Stoats (Midlothian)

The Hame Bakery (Aberdeenshire)

George Marchbank Bakers (Dumfries & Galloway)

The Bread Guy (Aberdeen)

More information 

For more information or for media opportunities, please contact kirsty.tinsdale@fdfscotland.org.uk / 07508 303 736

Notes for editors:

  1. The Healthier Bakery Fund was open to all businesses based in Scotland that produce sweet or savoury bakery products. This funding has been provided by Food Standards Scotland. Successful applicants have been awarded funds from £1,000 to £5,000 and will be investing at least 50% of the total project costs.
  2. FDF Scotland’s Reformulation for Health programme, funded by the Scottish Government, is helping small and medium sized food companies to make their products healthier.
  3. FDF Scotland is a division of the FDF - the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector.