Making of Bread Act 1757

The Making of Bread Act 1757 was a public health legislation by the British government. It aimed to protect the making of bread and punish those that adulterated it.

Making of Bread Act 1757
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn act for the due making of bread; and to regulate the price and assize thereof; and to punish persons who shall adulterate meal, flour, or bread.
Citation32 Geo. II c. 29

It was created after a report accused bakers of using alum lime, chalk and powdered bones to keep bread white.

Background
Substitutes for bread; - or - right honorables, saving the loaves, and dividing the fishes by James Gillray

In England, bread was often a priority for government since at least the thirteenth century.[1] Prior to mid-eighteenth century, selling underweight bread was punishable and sometimes stones were used to bulk bread.[1] As white bread became preferable, so did the adding of alum.[1] The concept that a baker could add chalk or bone triggered a riot in Manchester.[1] Making white bread meant discarding part of the edible wholegrain, and discouraged during times of food shortage.[1] Bakers in 1735, complained that the quality of flour they obtained was poor.[2] Traditionally an exporter of wheat, after 1750, England began importing it, with the consequence of rising prices of bread.[2]

Origin

The Act was created after a report accused bakers of using alum lime, chalk and powdered bones to keep bread white.[3][4] It was published in 1757 and was a public health legislation by the British government.[3]

Purpose

It aimed to protect the making of bread and punish those that adulterated it.[3] It generally related to London, with the aim of changing people's behaviour in bread consumption.[2] In order to persuade bakers to make and sell household bread, the Act abolished the traditional White and Wheaten grades.[2]

Effects

People continued to prefer the old Wheaten bread to the new household type, and the Act failed to change the eating habit of bread in London.[2]

See also

References
  1. Cockayne, Emily (2007). Hubbub: Filth, Noise, and Stench in England, 1600-1770. Yale University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-300-11214-6.
  2. Petersen, Christian; Jenkins, Andrew (2017). Bread and the British Economy, 1770–1870. Routledge. pp. 102–105. ISBN 978-1-85928-117-8.
  3. Rhys-Taylor, Alex (12 May 2020). Food and Multiculture: A Sensory Ethnography of East London. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-18173-9.
  4. "History of Bread - The Industrial Age (1700-1887)". Federation of Bakers. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
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