Goodman Fielder is planning to extend the shelf life of its bread, including Vogels, to about 10 days, signalling the end of daily deliveries.
However, the New Zealand Baking Industry Association is unsure it can be a success and will only work if customers can be won over.
Goodman Fielder says it is investigating practices in Europe and North America, where bread is not delivered to supermarkets daily. A loaf normally has a shelf life of about three days.
The company's brands include Quality Bakers, Nature's Fresh and Vogels.
Spokesperson Ian Greenshields says baking and delivering bread fresh daily is an inefficient system for a low value food item.
He says extending the shelf life of bread is not about adding preservatives but natural ingredients and more innovative packaging mean a loaf could stay fresh for 10 days.
But he says there are no plans to end daily deliveries just yet as the plan is still at an investigation stage.
The president of the New Zealand Baking Industry Association Laurie Powell says even though most breads in New Zealand have a lifespan of four to five days, supermarkets return bread if it's not sold within a day or two.
He says the industry is always looking at ways of extending bread shelf life naturally.
