In 2024, we launched Superloaf, a nutrient dense sliced loaf produced on Chorleywood plant, quickly christened by the media ‘the world’s first healthy UPF’.
Our journey started when my partner and co-founder, Melissa Sharp, was profoundly shocked by the food and snacks on offer on the chemo ward after her breast cancer diagnosis in her 30s.
The UPF dilemma
The ultra-processed foods (UPF) debate is the most contentious topic in the food industry, now eclipsing sustainability. On one side, critics call for outright bans and punitive taxes, viewing UPFs as the main culprit behind rising obesity and chronic health issues. On the other, defenders highlight their role in feeding billions through affordability, convenience, and mass availability. But this polarised debate overlooks the most important question: What if the problem isn’t the processing itself, but what and how we process?
A new perspective: UPF is here to stay
UPFs are not going anywhere. They are an embedded part of our modern food system, ensuring food security, affordability and consumer convenience. Banning them outright is not just impractical – it’s counterproductive. Instead of resisting the tide, we should be asking how we redirect it. What if we focused not on eliminating UPFs but on reformulating them to be actively healthy?
Reformulation, not regulation
HFSS-orthodoxy focuses on individual ingredients – sugar, salt and fat – rather than evaluating the full nutritional profile of a food. These outdated metrics emphasise energy density but overlook the real solution: nutritional density. The core issue isn’t just that UPFs contain preservatives or stabilisers; it’s that most are nutritionally deficient. Instead of vilifying UPFs outright, the smarter approach is reformulation – redesigning processed foods to deliver meaningful health benefits rather than just counting calories.
Superloaf: A blueprint for change
At Modern Baker, we have already proven this concept with Superloaf, a product that rethinks industrial bread from the ground up. It’s a clean-label, gut-friendly, nutrient-dense loaf designed for large-scale production without compromising taste or affordability. In other words, it fits seamlessly into the existing food system while offering a healthier, evidence-backed alternative.
If it can be done with bread – one of the most widely consumed UPFs – let’s not stop there. The same technology can be applied across cakes, biscuits, snacks, pizzas, pastas, even ready meals. The goal is not to make ultra-processed food disappear, but to make it better.
Rewriting the rules of food processing
The food industry has long been driven by innovation focused on efficiency, shelf-life, palatability and novelty, all of which has been prioritised over long-term health outcomes. But we now have the science and technology to rewrite the rules. Rather than returning to the impractical past of artisanal-only food production promoted by strong voices, we should be asking: How can we make large-scale food production work for health, rather than against it?
The solution isn’t just reformulation, it’s also about changing the way we define healthy. Traditional metrics focusing only on fat, sugar and salt are 30 years behind contemporary science. We need a new definition of ‘healthy food’ – one that accounts for gut microbe diversity and short chain fatty acid volume, blood sugar and cholesterol regulation, and wider long-term dietary impacts.
The call to action
If our government is serious about improving public health, it must do more to support and incentivise food innovation rather than relying on outdated approaches like blanket taxes or prohibitionist rhetoric.
The UK, in particular, has a golden opportunity to lead the way in redefining processed food. We already have the expertise, the technology, and the demand for better options. Now, we need policy and industry buy-in to turn this vision into reality.
This isn’t about compromise – it’s about progress. If we can rethink the industrial bread aisle, we can rethink the entire UPF category. The future of food isn’t about eliminating processing. It’s about using it intelligently to deliver the nutrition we need, at the scale we require, in the way people want to eat it.
Five minutes with Leo Campbell
Tell us about yourself
Over my career, I’ve been involved in launching about a dozen businesses, but this time – Modern Baker – is for life. Much of my background is in the creative industries, where I developed a deep appreciation for brand and design, the power of earned media over paid media, and a deep respect for brilliant thinkers.
How long you’ve been a member of BLF?
The BLF is the only industry group I am part of. I have been involved for 2 years.
Tell us about your business
A business born in a chemo ward is destined to carry a unique DNA. In our case, it’s one that encourages bold thinking and breaking the rules. Modern Baker has taken a few big pivots along the way, each one driven by the realisation our horizons could be bigger than we first imagined – and no regrets. Our biggest breakthrough? The launch of Superloaf. What started as an ambitious idea to redefine the UPF is now attracting global attention, with licensing enquiries coming in from all corners of the world.
What’s your expert topic?
I guess my expert topic has ended up being the ‘healthy UPF’. Melissa, the team, and I, have all done our 10,000 hours on this one – and some of us have been round that clock more than once.
What’s something you want to learn more about?
Precision fermentation.
What is one thing you love about F&B industry and one thing you’d like to change?
I would like the industry to redefine what constitutes innovation. As long as it keeps handing out golden gongs to jam-flavoured tea bags and odd-shaped croissants because they make amusing headlines, it undermines its own credibility – especially when it’s facing an existential crisis over health.
