Baking&Snack - September 2011 - 51

Pains
The Case for Enriched Wheat
years following implementation, enriched wheat must be phased out so that at the end of two years, all grain-based foods will be wholegrain-rich. The proposal doesn’t define “whole grain rich,” adding to the confusion in the school food service industry. This point received plenty of criticism in public comments on USDA’s proposal — criticism that the department will consider while revising these rules. Under this proposal, schools that meet all of the nutritional requirements, not just the grain requirements, will see an increase of only 6¢ per lunch meal in government reimbursements, enough to buy part of an apple. WHOLE GRAIN. School districts can see the writing on the wall. Even though current nutritional guidelines for school meals do not require whole grains over enriched grains, many schools are asking bakeries for whole-grain-rich products anyway. That’s where bread products have been headed for the past five years, and the trend only seems to be gaining ground. “It’s probably in the last five years when you started to see white-based product consumption decreasing, and a large part of the decrease is attributed to the parents directing their kids to eat heartier, wholesome whole-grain products,” said J.R. Paterakis, vice-president, marketing and sales, H&S Bakery, Baltimore, MD. “You can see the product shift in supermarkets and at the schools.” School food service directors are asking bakeries for whole-grain-rich products. Although USDA has yet to define “whole grain rich,” so far those in the industry have applied the 51% golden rule to guide them — 51% or more of the flour used to make a product must be whole-grain. While Flowers Foods, Inc., Thomasville, GA, does not create new products specifically for the schools it supplies, Janice Anderson, vice-president, marketing, said the company already makes a consumer product line of 100% whole-grain breads, hamburger and hot dog buns, bagels and sandwich rounds available to schools. These products meet the USDA’s proposed nutritional requirements. Like many companies serving school districts, H&S Bakery also In a push to promote whole grains, guidelines proposed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for school nutrition programs will phase enriched wheat out of school cafeterias completely. Although the change may be rooted in good intentions, Judi Adams, president of the Grain Foods Foundation, said she thinks the move goes too far. “These new proposals do not comply with USDA’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” Ms. Adams said. “This proposal states that in two years, all grain products served in schools will be whole-grain-rich, but the dietary guidelines say that half your grains should be whole grains and the rest can be enriched grains.” Despite all the nutrients present, whole grains have only half as much folic acid as do enriched grains. While folic acid prevents neural tube birth defects, for it to be effective, a woman needs to be consuming folic acid before she becomes pregnant. “Whether we like it or not, these high school young women are of child-bearing age and need to be getting folic acid in their diets for if and when they become pregnant,” Ms. Adams said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged that enriched grains have decreased neural tube birth defects since 1998 when they were first fortified with folic acid. Ms. Adams said she and other members of the grain industry hope USDA considers this fact as it revises its school nutrition proposal.

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Baking&Snack - September 2011

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