The Highs And Lows Of Healthier Supermarket Loaves
Written by Harry Turnbull
Low carbers have been dealt another blow with the last loaf they love being removed from supermarket shelves.
Sainsbury’s have pulled HiLo bread without any explanation to disappointed customers following a similar move by Waitrose to jettison LivLife.
Neither company has been willing to give an explanation for the move apart from mentioning suppliers.
The withdrawals have puzzled many customers given the continuing move towards healthier food products.
Given the considerable interest and concern among customers—many of whom rely on this product for health reasons—you might expect Sainsbury’s to either issue a clear explanation or at the very least express a willingness to investigate further on their behalf.
Diabetic Jan Blaney, of Cheshire, bemoaned the lack of information: “I was a bit miffed when LivLife disappeared from Waitrose without any warning and now the same has happened at Sainsbury’s.
“You can ask staff or ring customer services and no one has a clue. These products were important for me and as many people with diabetes or struggling with weight loss knows, giving up bread is a major challenge.
“These low carbohydrate loaves were one way of keeping cravings in check and something like this always causes a fuss on the diabetes message boards. Also, there were many times I couldn’t find these loaves on the shelves so it couldn’t be down to them not selling.”
Livlife contained 5.9gms ( 3.8 less sugars) carbs per slice and 68 calories while Hi-Lo was 5gms carbs (3.4 net) and 86 calories. An average slice of medium wholemeal bread has 15gms oc carbs and 95 calories.
The only other alternatives are online and they don’t come cheap. Ocado sells Fitbakes loaves but these are online orders only, costing £5. You could go directly to the Fitbakes website and cough up £9.99 instead.
A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said “We continually review our product ranges to ensure we’re offering customers great quality and choice at affordable prices. This particular product was delisted by the supplier, The Bread Factory. For further information, you may wish to contact them directly.”
No one from the Bread Factory was available for comment.
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About the author
Harry Turnbull is an experienced journalist based in the north who has held a variety of reporting and editing roles in the media. He also writes a reviews column for the UK’s biggest archive of BBC radio dramas.
