A Canadian bakery is stirring up controversy with a pair of gender-based bread loaves — one made and labelled for women, the other for men — that have hit the shelves of local Loblaws, Sobeys and No Frills locations.

Stonemill Bakehouse, a Toronto-based bakery, is selling “milder,” “light-textured” hemp and quinoa bread stuffed with vitamin D and calcium and packaged in a pink-accented bag for women. A matching “hearty” barley and rye version with protein and fibre is targeted at men.

The products signal an emerging trend of gearing food toward specific genders, say experts, who have noticed everything from chocolate to protein bars being made and marketed for men or women. This has prompted criticism on social media, with questions raised about the morals and motivation behind gender-based foods, even the need for them.

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“Women’s bread, because normal bread is just way too rough and manly for the feminine palette (sic),” mocked one Twitter user. Another chimed in: “Today in needlessly gendered products: bread.”

Others, such as University of Toronto sociology professor Shyon Baumann, take issue with the use of “hearty” and “mild.” Baumann claimed the terms reinforce “pre-existing stereotypes about women’s taste and men’s taste.”

But Stonemill president, Gottfried Boehringer, said that wasn’t the intention. In an email to the Star, he said the breads were formulated to address “nutrient needs” and “nourishment.”

“The dietary needs for men and women are slightly different, and these breads were created to reflect those differences in terms of nutrients — vitamins and minerals specifically,” Boehringer wrote.

“While both breads are high in protein, fibre and non-GMO (not genetically modified), the women’s bread was formulated to be a source of calcium, vitamin D and iron, while the men’s bread is a source of zinc and magnesium.”

Despite their nutritional value, Toronto chef and nutritionist Marni Wasserman warned against buying products solely because they are marketed to a certain gender.

“Something that may be classified as typical in a male, the average male may not even have,” she said, before mentioning the food industry is seeing more and more gender-specific items, especially chocolate and nutrition bars.

Yogurt, Baumann said, kick-started the burgeoning trend by featuring labels for women and touting weight loss claims

Others picked up on that and began presenting foods as male- or female-friendly, said Robert Carter, director of research firm NPD Group. But until Stonemill came out with its two breads, he said, grocery products haven’t been overtly labelled for a specific gender.

So why the shift?

The grocery industry is “competitive,” said Carter, and retailers are innovating as much as possible to attract the consumer’s dollar while wedging other companies out.

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He said food businesses with targeted products are capitalizing on research and stereotypes that show “men tend to go toward the stereotypical meat-and-potato-type dishes, whereas females go towards food that suggests health and wellness.”

Looking at the bigger picture, Carter said, grocery companies weren’t the first to use gender stereotypes to sell a product.

It’s been happening for centuries in the beauty and fashion industry and even crossed into the candy market in 2013, when, to the disdain of many, Kinder Surprise released pink- and blue-packaged chocolate eggs for boys and girls. Inside the boys’ eggs were toy cars, while the girls’ contained miniature dolls.

A year earlier, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres took aim at a set of “for her” pens released by Bic. The pens — advertised as having a “thin barrel to fit a woman’s hand” and an “elegant design — just for her!” — came in pastel pink and lavender.