What's really in supermarket bread and pasta?

Bread is one of the most-eaten foods in South Africa, and one of the most argued about. Some say a supermarket loaf is full of chemicals; others say bread is bread. This is the third article in our carbs series, and it goes through what's actually in a typical loaf, what each ingredient does, and which ones deserve a closer look.

New to the series? Start with Are carbs bad for you? and How refined carbs affect your blood sugar, energy and cravings.

A typical supermarket white loaf, line by line

Here is the ingredients list of an ordinary sliced white loaf from a South African supermarket. Most mass-produced loaves are close to this.

Most of these are harmless or even useful. A few have question marks, which we cover next.

The ingredients with question marks

Preservatives: propionates (E282). These are the main mould stoppers in South African bread, and they are permitted by law in all types of bread. Propionate is also made naturally by the bacteria in your gut. A 2019 study gave 14 healthy people a meal containing the amount of propionate found in preserved food. It raised hormones linked to insulin resistance, compared with the same meal without it. In mice, long-term exposure led to weight gain. That's an early signal worth knowing about, not proof that bread preservatives cause diabetes in real life.

Preservatives: sorbic acid and sorbates (E200 to E203). Also allowed in bread. Food safety regulators consider them low risk at normal intakes. A small number of people are sensitive to them.

Emulsifiers, especially mono- and diglycerides (E471, E472). These are among the most common emulsifiers in bread. A large French study followed over 95,000 adults for about 7 years and found that higher intakes of certain emulsifiers, including these, were linked with a higher risk of heart disease. It's observational, so it shows a link rather than cause and effect, and most of the emulsifiers in that study came from foods like cakes, biscuits and packet soups rather than bread. But it's a reason to prefer simpler foods where you can.

Potassium bromate. You may have read that this banned flour improver is in South African bread. The World Health Organization's expert committee on food additives withdrew its approval for treating flour in 1992, and most countries removed it. South Africa only allows flour improvers that are on the international Codex list, and bromate is no longer acceptable under that standard. We found no evidence that it's used in South African bread. The improver you'll most often see is ascorbic acid, which is vitamin C. For more on bromate and other additives, see Food additives: what the evidence says.

The bigger issue: brown bread isn't whole grain

For most people, the additives matter less than what the flour is. In a 2023 survey, almost half of South Africans believed brown bread is whole grain. It isn't. Standard South African brown bread is made from white bread flour with some bran added back, without the germ. It has more fibre than white bread, but it isn't the whole grain that the research in part 1 links to better health.

Look for whole-wheat or whole-grain flour as the first ingredient, rather than relying on the colour of the loaf. Some brown loaves are coloured with caramel or malt.

What about pasta?

Good news here: dried pasta is usually 1 or 2 ingredients, durum wheat semolina and water. Because it's dry, it doesn't need preservatives. Fresh and filled pastas from the fridge can contain more additives, so check the label. Whole-wheat pasta has more fibre than white; the portion size and what you serve it with matter more than the pasta itself.

How to read a bread label in 30 seconds

1. First ingredient: does it say whole-wheat or whole-grain flour? If it just says wheat flour, it's refined.
2. Fibre per 100 g: a useful rule of thumb is 6 g or more for a high-fibre loaf. White bread is usually around 2 to 3 g.
3. Sugar per 100 g: most plain loaves are low. Some "health" and seeded breads add honey or sugar, so check.
4. Length of the list: a short list usually means fewer additives. Preservatives must be labelled with the word "preservative" in front of the name.
5. Sodium: South Africa caps the salt in bread by law, which helps, but it still adds up if you eat a lot of it.

Simpler options

• Bakery bread with a short ingredients list, eaten fresh or frozen in slices. Without preservatives it goes mouldy faster, so freeze what you won't eat in 2 to 3 days.
• Whole-wheat or seeded loaves with whole-grain flour listed first.
• Genuine sourdough, made with a starter rather than added yeast. Check the label: some supermarket "sourdough" is ordinary bread with a little sourdough flavour.
• Bake your own. Flour, water, yeast and salt is all bread really needs.

For more easy swaps, see Simple carb swaps that work in a South African kitchen.

Frequently asked questions

Is supermarket bread bad for you?
Not in itself. A slice of whole-wheat bread is a reasonable food. The concern is a diet built mostly on refined white bread, and the additives are a smaller part of that story than the missing fibre.

Why doesn't my supermarket bread go mouldy?
Preservatives, packaging and very clean factory conditions all slow mould. It's not a sign that something sinister is in it, just that it's built for a long shelf life.

Should I avoid gluten?
Only if you have coeliac disease or a diagnosed gluten sensitivity. For everyone else, there's no evidence that cutting out gluten helps, and gluten-free breads are often more processed, not less.

More in this series

• How many carbs do you need, and does it change with age?
• Simple carb swaps that work in a South African kitchen

The sources

• Tirosh A et al. (2019). The short-chain fatty acid propionate increases glucagon and FABP4 production, impairing insulin action in mice and humans. Science Translational Medicine 11:eaav0120. View →
• Sellem L et al. (2023). Food additive emulsifiers and risk of cardiovascular disease in the NutriNet-Santé cohort. BMJ 382:e076058. View →
• Taylor JRN et al. (2023). South African consumers' knowledge, opinions and awareness of whole grains and their health benefits. Nutrients 15:3522. View →
• WHO/FAO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives. Potassium bromate: use as a flour treatment agent not acceptable (1992). View →
• Department of Health. Regulations relating to miscellaneous additives in foodstuffs, R1425 of 2016. View →
• Department of Health. Regulations relating to preservatives and antioxidants, R965 of 1977, as amended. View →

Find out more

• Are carbs bad for you? Good carbs vs refined carbs explained
• How refined carbs affect your blood sugar, energy and cravings
• Food additives: what the evidence says about 5 you'll see on labels
• GMOs in South Africa: what's in your food and what the label means

This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have coeliac disease, a food allergy or a sensitivity to a particular additive, speak to your doctor or a registered dietitian.

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