Brits stunned after realising Greggs bakes have ‘secret code’ used to tell them apart

Next time you get something from Greggs, just take a moment before sinking your teeth into the pastry to observe the markings atop your meal.

More and more Brits are becoming aware of the truth that Greggs has been leaving secret messages on their pastries for years, allowing people to divine their contents with naught but a fleeting glance.

However, there are some who have yet to be educated in this secret language of the bakery, so it's high time to learn about a cornerstone of British culture.

This is, of course, the secret code which Greggs uses to to tell apart the fillings of their various bakes.

Take a look at the picture below, could you guess what filling was inside all seven of these pastries?

Greggs

If your answers were sausage roll, vegan sausage roll, steak bake, cheese and onion bake, chicken bake, vegan steak bake and sausage, bean and cheese melt then congratulations!

It's pretty simple, each one of these foods Greggs sells has a different set of markings along the top.

If wavy lines you see, then chicken your pastry filling be, while if it's diagonal slits you find that's a clear sign that it's steak bake time.

V-shaped markings alert you to the presence of cheese and onion buried within the pastry, whereas straight and horizontal lines let you know you're about to chow down on something filled with sausage and beans.

Different markings will also tell you whether the sausage role you grasp in your hand is stuffed full of meat or contains a vegan-friendly alternative.

Diagonal lines means it's carnivore time, while horizontal stripes let you know you're enjoying a vegan meal, and the same rules apply for their vegan steak bake.

Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

So why do Greggs do this?

The answer was revealed in last year's documentary Greggs: Secrets of their Best Bakes and the simplest answer is the correct one in this case.

It's so their employees can tell what they're looking at with just one glance.

While the markings do let steam escape in the oven and avoid the food going soggy, the pattern is there to let everyone know that it's what's on the inside that counts.

After all, you wouldn't want to accidentally hand a vegan a sausage roll filled with meat, would you?

A former Greggs manager said learning the markings was 'one of the first things you have to do' when you get hired at Greggs as it's like learning a new language, albeit one with a pretty short alphabet.