Failsafe shopping list in alphabetic order within 9 supermarket categories

Always read labels: ingredients change!

  • This list updates those in any of the Fed Up books and the Failsafe Cookbook. We try to make sure the products below are failsafe
  • Mention here is not an endorsement of any particular food or company, nor, obviously, is there any fee paid or collected. It’s here to help you.
  • Please do not use this information as a means of starting failsafe eating until you have read any one of Sue Dengate's books or seen a dietitian.
  • For recent changes and new failsafe products check the latest Failsafe Newsletter. You can subscribe to our free newsletters (email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with ‘subscribe’ in the subject line)
  • For regions and countries outside Australia, your local failsafe group may have a shopping list - see under General category.


In the list below, you can eat anything that doesn’t have a bold warning in the paragraph.

Warning ingredients may vary in the different packs of the same product e,g, Pampas frozen puff pastry in sheets is preservative-free but dispenser rolls contain preservatives; Crisco sunflower oil in large packs such as 15L contains synthetic antioxidant (320, BHA) but is BHA-free in smaller containers.

Mistakes it is important to stick strictly to your supervised elimination diet – 2 mistakes per week or a daily small mistake can be enough to stop the diet from working.

Reader report: I am about to embark on the strict elimination diet for the 3rd time, but I am trying to pinpoint what went wrong the 2nd time round - was consistently bloating but not as severely as normal - versus the 1st time round when I felt fantastic. Using your salicylate and amine mistakes information sheets and the product updates on the fed up site, I have so far picked up the following errors: Coles Pears in Syrup snackpacks (contained pear juice), Simply Wize Crusty Bread (maize flour), Dovedale Rice & Chia Bread (Chia seeds), and the wrong Cenovis multivitamin (Once Daily Women's Multi, contains evening primrose oil). Thanks for all of your help and detailed knowledge, I think I would have been doing many more things wrong in the diet without having the fed up site to look at. - Belinda, by email

You are welcome to contribute to this page - please email me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let me know if you want your name to appear as well. My mailing address is PO Box 718 WOOLGOOLGA NSW 2456 Australia. Note * means according to the RPAH Elimination Diet Handbook with Food & Shopping Guide 2009, available from www.allergy.net.au

Bakery

Breads, plain white or wholemeal (No • propionate preservatives or mould inhibitors 280–283 propionic acid, sodium, calcium or potassium propionate • vinegar • sulphites or dough conditioners 220–228 • sorbate preservatives 200-203 • antioxidants 310-321 in oil, sometimes unlisted • seeds except poppy seeds • no corn, no honey, no raisins or other fruit or flavours • no cultured whey powder, cultured wheat, cultured dextrose, cultured or fermented milk products which is a method of using propionate or sorbate preservatives without saying so • no olive or other non-failsafe oils - canola, soy, sunflower, safflower are safe)

Product warning: synthetic antioxidants in bread

Reader report: Aldi wholemeal, multigrain, white sandwich and white toast bread from their basic range ie the 1.09 for white bread and 1.79 range for the wholemeal and multigrain all contain the antioxidants 319 and 320. I have found that the Coles Smart buy bread and Woolworths Homebrand does not contain these antioxidants, have changed over and so far no problems. Many Aldi products are using these antioxidants now so be aware. – thanks to Glenda

Breads from Hot Bread shops: Bakers Delight, Banjo’s or Brumby’s

  • plain breads
  • bread with poppy-seeds (no other seeds such as sesame, nigella and sunflower)
  • Brumby’s white iced finger buns – order plain fondant icing, no coconut or topping. Let us know if you are having trouble getting iced finger buns without the coconut or spice-wash, which are failsafe This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Woolworths baked instore bread with the following ingredients is failsafe (always read the label): wheat flour, water, yeast, iodised salt, soy flour, wheat gluten, sugar, vegetable oil (antioxidant (306 from soy)), vegetable emulsifiers 471,481,472E, malted wheat flour, vitamins (thiamine, folate) – thanks to Kath

Coles have been very responsive to requests for preservative free bread and have even taken out the vinegar (sals and amines). They advise that "none of the oils used in the bread products in Coles store bakeries contain antioxidants. None of our breads contain additives or preservatives except for topped products such as cheese and bacon rolls."

FN73coles

Coles Rustic Baguette - it's hard to believe that supermarket bread can be this good. This artisan-quality product won Best in Show in Sydney. Ingredients: flour, water, iodised salt, yeast, malted wheat,enzymes (hemicellulase, amylase), antioxidant 300 (vitamin C), and vitamins (thiamine, folic acid).


Reader review: "this is the best bread in Australia" – thanks to Jean Pierre

Reader comment: We started buying this bread just recently after reading about it on your website and then was shocked to learn it came from Ireland half cooked then frozen and sent by boat to Australia, where it is further cooked and sold and labelled as freshly cooked each day – Pam (but at least EU food labelling is better than ours, no 5% loophole – Howard) http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article/8494587/bread-scandal

Bakers Delight plain sweet finger buns are failsafe; white iced finger Buns - order them specially without coconut and ‘spicewash’ flavour which contains salicylates; traditional croissants (contain dairy) are failsafe – thanks to Debbie,

Warning we do not recommend other products in these stores unless you check ingredients:

'Since Bakers Delight bread is additive-free, naively though we also thought this would have been so with some other products. I am particularly disappointed with the use of the 6 Southampton study colours in their products which are aimed toward children. Specifically the product we were caught out by was the Custard Scroll which has both 102 and 110 in it.' – thanks to Megan (the custard scroll now uses natural colours 160a and 150d which are failsafe but contains coconut and preservative 220 which are not failsafe; the caramel scroll uses natural colour 150c but contains preservative 202 and cinnamon flavor) Bakers Delight has a useful website with all ingredients listed: www.bakersdelight.com.au

Breads from local bakeries: there are numerous small bakeries which pride themselves on being preservative-free but do not necessarily understand what failsafe involves. Ask to read the premix label and the label on their vegetable oil containers too. If using Laucke’s premixes they will be preservative free and do not use vegetable oil so no need to worry about nasty antioxidants e.g. The Bakery in Strathalbyn, SA:

Reader report: Pestkas use the Laucke flour mix, so the plain breads are failsafe. -Thanks to Helen

Bread, gluten free: see the Gluten Free foods section

Bread mixes: numerous brands e.g. Laucke’s, (no preservatives, no flavours) read labels, if veg oil is present check with manufacturers for unlisted antioxidants. See also bread, gluten free

Cakes and croissants from permitted ingredients e.g. Woolworths Bakery Croissant Mini are failsafe: Wheat Flour, Water, Butter (milk fat, water, milk solids, colour (160A), Yeast Wheat, Gluten, Sugar, Soy Flour, Emulsifiers (472E, 481), Mineral Salt (170), Food Acid (270,260,300), Firming Agent (616), Enzyme, Vitamin (Thiamine)

Product report: "I'm so used to baked goods not being failsafe that I thought it was amazing to see this one" – thanks to Larissa

Finger buns, Brumby’s and Bakers Delight plain white iced, no flavours such as spice wash

Flatbreads, wraps, bagels, pita, naan or tortillas made from permitted ingredients e.g.

  • Mountain Bread Light Wraps (flour, filtered water, salt) http://www.mountainbread.com.au/cgi-bin/index.pl?menu_id=245 ‘Mountain bread is much cheaper online’, thanks to Val
  • Certified Organic GF wraps
  • Vitastic Family Pita lite (wholemeal wheat flour, water, yeast, iodised salt, vitamins)
  • Vitastic Sorj wraps (wheat, water, salt)
  • Pocket Pita lite (wholemal wheat flour, water, yeast, salt)
  • Coles Naan bread (wheat flour, cream (milk), baking powder, sugar, canola oil, salt.
  • Tortillas Warning most tortillas contain preservative 282, thanks to Vanessa. See our easy recipe using 4 cups flour, 4 tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder in Recipes.

Crumpets and muffins, None (make your own muffins, see Failsafe Cookbook)

See biscuits etc under Pantry

update February 2018