HOVIS bread quality gone to pot?

QuackQuack_2

Has anybody else noticed the quality of Hovis bread seems to have taken an turn for the worse?

It's not consistently bad, but bad often enough to notice. I bough a loaf yesterday and it's like sandpaper. It's dry, a bit hard, rough to the touch and has bigger than normal gaps. A bit hard to explain, but generally poor quality. It almost looks like it's been frozen and defrosted.

I did write to Hovis and moan about it and whilst they were very apologetic and sent a handful of free loaf vouchers - I'd rather the bread was consistently good like it used to be When I used the vouchers a shop assistant in Asda said to me "We've had hundreds of these!" we made me wonder if the problem was widespread or not?

I know I should probably just switch brands - but given nearly all bread is baked in the same place by the same company and just put in different bags - I'm not sure it would help

antrobus

You are not alone.

Have a read of this here - http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/hovis_advertising/ - which concerns a complaint made by the Real Bread Campaign concerning a Hovis ad, but contains some useful information on the subject.

It used to be the case that Hovis was a brand of flour which was supplied to bakeries who then baked the bread and sold it as 'Hovis'. Although I think there remain bakeries who do this, Hovis bread is now predominantly baked in big centralised factories by Premier Foods and shipped out to the supermarkets. And I think that they've recently changed the recipe; they've stopped using Canadian wheat and gone 100% British, which would very likely explain why the bread now appears 'drier'.

QuackQuack_2

Really appreciate that link, thanks, and your reply. It clearly has changed.

I did wonder if it's just me imagining it - but when the whole family are saying Hovis is rubbish now and won't eat it - then something has to be something to it. That's got to do the brand damage in the long run if kids are aware of it for being a bad product, they are unlikely to buy it themselves in later life.

I guess I'll have to look for another brand as to be honest, as it is, it's worse than the supermarkets own brand stuff. The only problem, as you've pointed out, is that it's baked in the same place as a lot of others - using basically the same recipe, so finding a decent, soft alternative the kids will eat is going to be a challenge.

Again - many thanks for the excellent quality reply.

clemmatis

Ah. Thank you, antrobus. I stopped buying Hovis some while ago now, because it just didn't taste right; but I didn't know why.

dontone

Yes, thanks for that link. I don't eat much bread but DH used to love their wholemeal bread and recently he said that he didn't want it anymore as it didn't taste right and it was upsetting his stomach. He changed to Tescos brand and he's been fine ever since.
My mum has also said that the "best of both" bread has a very short shelf life to what it used to be. Apparently the loaves she had bought were going mouldy after about 2 days, even though there was still a couple of days on the BB label.
Wish these companies would stop mucking about with tried and tested recipes, seems to be happening all the time now.

williham

Warburtons bake their own bread

kevin52

Resurrecting this old link. The Hovis I bought recently has been rubbish. It is soft, mis-shapen, doughy, damp and tasteless. The owners of this iconic brand should be ashamed of themselves.

Lube

Maybe its because the parent company is having a hard time lately they has sold several brands off. Also many ingredients have gone up a lot so they are being squeezed with rising prices and supermarkets. I know its no excuse for poor quality and in the end the brand will suffer even more. It would be such a shame if the product gets worse and or is no longer here

maninthestreet

E' were a grand man, were my dad!

rustyboy21

They lost a massive supermarket contract recently ( think £75million).

You don't think they are using the ingredients up do you?

NeverInDebt

yes here it is

http://www.eadt.co.uk/business/suffolk_hovis_owner_premier_foods_loses_75m_bread_contract_1_1665538