Paul Cook has responded to trolls who mocked his decision to sell the baked goods (Picture: Blackpool Gazette/ SWNS)

A bakery boss has hit back after he was criticised for selling ‘non-binary gingerbread people’ instead of gingerbread men.

Paul Owner, who runs the Cottage Bakery in Blackpool, claims it took people three years to even notice the change.

The biscuit’s gender identity sparked a mixed response when a picture was posted on Facebook, with some backing the decision and others dismissing it as part of the ‘woke agenda.’

The post – captioned ‘Non binary gingerbread people? What it’s really come to?’ – generated thousands of shares and comments.

But despite the ‘mental’ response, Paul revealed that he had been selling the non-binary gingerbread people for years without anyone realising.

Bakeries had to begin stringently labelling their products when ‘Natasha’s Law’ was laid in Parliament in 2019.

It required all businesses to provide full ingredient and allergen labelling on foods which are pre-packed for direct sale.

The law came after the tragic death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, a teenager who died after suffering an allergic reaction to a Pret a Manger baguette.

Paul says he changed the name of the biscuit in 2019 and it took years before anyone took notice (Picture: Blackpool Gazette/SWNS)

Labels were put on the Cottage Bakery’s gingerbread people, but it wasn’t until three years later that Paul and the bakery received backlash.

He said: ‘We began putting labels on them before Covid, but we had people coming in and saying it was wrong and they were not men.

‘So I had a chat with my printer about and he said, “Why don’t you call them non-binary?”

‘I thought that’d be funny and that’s how it came about, but it’s taken three years for someone to make a big deal of it.

The Cottage Bakery in Blackpool has been making gingerbread for over 20 years (Picture: Blackpool Gazette / SWNS)

‘The label is on the back so they can’t see it when it’s on the counter, and most people ask for a gingerbread man.

‘It wasn’t until the labels were on show that people started making silly comments.

‘It was done as a bit of a laugh because of people’s comments in the first place.

‘It wasn’t done to be “politically correct” and some people have thankfully taken it as a joke’.

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Blackpool bakery boss Paul Cook says it took years before anyone noticed the change.