About the Guild

The Guild provides information, support and advice for the increasing numbers of traditional windmills and watermills that have remained in production or have been brought back into full working order in Britain.

Whenever possible traditional mills use wind or water turning sails or waterwheels as their primary source of power. They all mill stoneground flours using horizontal millstones.

Additives in non-wholemeal flour

We have recently received a number of inquiries about the addition of folic acid to flour.

All members of the Guild are covered by the Small Mills Exemption so consequently all the flour bought from any of our members is free from all additives including folic acid. 

The original UK Bread and Flour Regulations from the 1940s, introduced during World War II,made the fortification of white flour mandatory to combat nutritional deficiencies and protect public health amidst severe food rationing. By law, all non-wholemeal wheat flour (white and brown flour) manufactured or sold in the UK had to be fortified with specific vitamins and minerals at the milling stage. This included Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Niacin (Vitamin B3) and Folic Acid. Folic acid deficiency is one of the leading causes of neural tube defects (NTDs), which can cause serious and debilitating conditions to babies in the womb, including spina bifida. The Department of Health and Social Care predict that around 200 cases of brain and spine defects in babies will be prevented every year as well as significant cost savings to healthcare needs by fortifying non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid

For traditional mills the addition of additives has always been challenging because the production process does not lend itself to the uniform addition of tiny amounts of fortification.

The Traditional Cornmillers Guild, do not challenge the department of Heath figures but what they did  point out that getting additives to be uniformly distributed in the flour would have been a major undertaking and some mills were arguing that this was impossible to achieve and if enforced would put them out of business.

After representation by the Guild together with the Real Bread Campaign, members of parliament and the House of Lords  a DEFRA working party was set up and they recommended that there was a small mills exemption, ie mills milling under 500 tonnes a year should be exempt from adding any additives to their non-wholemeal flour.

As a result of this work and the subsequent consultations that followed, an exemption was agreed.

Consequently all non-wholemeal flour purchased from one of our members will have no additional additives. Wholemeal flour was always exempt from the mandatory fortification because the natural wheat bran and germ retain essential nutrients.

If you are interested in finding more out about our mills, click this link  or follow us on Instagram