Inside the Factory

From field to factory, making bread is a non-stop processing line, and at Allied Bakery, they knock out 140 perfect loaves every single minute, thanks to some remarkable machines. Join us as we go inside the factory to witness the mass production of bread over a 24-hour period, from the steel rollers and high-tech mixers that turn wheat to flour to dough, to the massive oven that handles 3,500 loaves at a time, to the high-speed machine that bags bread in midair, to the loading trucks that dispatch Allied's bakery products across the U.K.

We are, without doubt, a world of chocolate lovers. In Britain alone, people eat on average a whopping 266 bars each year. Feeding our insatiable sweet tooth requires a lot of raw cocoa beans, a lot of factories, and a lot of smart machines. Join us as we enter a Nestlé plant that produces over seven million bars of chocolate in just 24 hours. Then take a tour of the Thorntons factory in Derbyshire, where high-tech robots and a team of over a 100 people work together to make boxes of assorted chocolates by the millions... by hand.

The journey milk makes from the farm to the factory to your cereal bowl is a lengthy one, involving high-tech machinery, cutting-edge science, and a whole lot of cows. Host Gregg Wallace has exclusive access to one of the largest fresh milk processing plants on Earth to see how it churns out 1.5 million liters a day. Witness the multi-stage process, from separation and pasteurization to testing and bottling. Then join Ruth Goodman and Cherry Healey off-site as they investigate milk's complicated history and its one "upsetting" ingredient.

Around the world, millions of people start their days with a bowl of cornflakes, but what exactly is the process of manufacturing this popular breakfast cereal on such a grand scale? Host Gregg Wallace takes us on an exclusive tour of Kellogg's massive Manchester factory to discover, step-by-step, what it takes to produce a million boxes of cereal every day. Meanwhile, outside of the factory, Cherry Healey discovers how special nutrients are added to our cereal, while historian Ruth Goodman sits down to a 19th century breakfast feast.

Whether you call them potato chips or crisps, one thing remains certain: both sides of the Atlantic cannot get enough of them. Fortunately there are factories like Walkers in Leicester, capable of shooting out five million packets a day. But how do they do it? Host Gregg Wallace spends a day at the plant drying, frying, scrutinizing, and flavoring chips. Meanwhile, Cherry Healy discovers the secret of the perfect potato for making crisps, while historian Ruth Goodman uncovers who really invented this popular salty snack, the U.S. or Britain.

More baked beans are eaten in Britain than anywhere else on Earth, which is likely why it is home to the world's biggest baked bean factory. Host Gregg Wallace spends a day at the H. J. Heinz, Wigan plant to watch a sack of beans get blanched, laser checked, canned, covered in tomato sauce, and sent spiraling through a pressure cooker. Meanwhile, outside of the factory, Cherry Healey follows the incredible journey a recycled bean can goes on while historian Ruth Goodman reveals why tinned food was once a matter of life and death.