Baking&Snack - August 2012 - 84

KIDS’ HEALTH

with the University of Minnesota and K-12 Minnesota schools, we’ve shown that whole grain foods made with Ultragrain are liked as much as or more than their white-flourbased counterparts.” Bay State Milling turned its attention to developing items for the school market when its customers complained of the confusion caused by NSLP’s whole-grain-rich standard. Company product developers devised Easy GrAin pizza mix to fit the “more than half ” whole grain requirement. “From a formulating standpoint, whole grains have a whole host of issues,” said Susan Kay, applications manager, Bay State Milling. Enzyme usage, leavening techniques, sweetener selection — all are involved. “And you have to achieve the cool factor kids want.”

Bay State learned that the reformulated product need not exactly match the conventional item. “Because the new guidelines allow only products containing whole grains, the new version will not be seen by school lunch participants in a side-by-side setting,” Ms. Zammer said. “But it must look reasonably like the conventional product.” Resistant starch, a form of dietary fiber highly compatible with baked foods, is another way to boost kids’ fiber intake. “Hi-maize resistant starch is particularly suited to bakery because it easily and invisibly replaces flour in baked foods while maintaining the taste and texture that consumers prefer,” said Patrick O’Brien, marketing manager, bakery, Ingredion, Inc., Westchester, IL. He also cited

the company’s prebiotic and soluble fibers, whole grain corn flour and resistant dextrins that provide benefits for digestive, bone, joint, immune and blood sugar health. Such solutions improve the nutritional profile of foods by reducing total calories, calories from fat and grams of fat per serving. “Nutrition can be addressed in two ways, by addition and by reduction,” he observed. Given today’s imperative to raise kids’ health standards, producers of baked foods and snacks have many opportunities . “The fact is, we can all make a difference,” Mr. Trouba said, “and the first step is often a small step.” But nonetheless, it’s a step, a stride, a leap — all taken to change things for the better for kids and their futures.

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Commitment to play

Sometimes a bakery answers the call to improve kids’ health by supporting physical activity rather than introducing a product. That’s what happened with Fairytale Brownies Bakery, Phoenix, AZ, a producer of bakery treats that appeal to indulgence and fun. Fun is what led founders Eileen Spitalny and David Kravetz to KaBOOM!, a nonprofit group that builds playgrounds for children nationwide. The group’s goal is to build a safe place to play within walking distance of every child in America. After Hurricane Katrina, it constructed 100 Fairytale Brownies funded a new playground, designed by the kids themplaygrounds in 100 days throughout the Gulf region. selves, at a school for homeless children through KaBOOM! “When you operate a food company, you get many Fairytale Brownies Bakery requests for donations, and we wanted to give back to the community, Ms. Spitalny said. Specifically, they sought to make an impact on the health, both physical ” and mental, of children. “As a company, we’re quite small, but we want to do our part. ” The idea of supporting playgrounds was a natural for the business partners. “David and I met on the playground during kindergarten and have been friends ever since, Ms. Spitalny said. ”Recess was a big ” part of our lives. It was a time to play, to act out dreams, to be imaginative. “Today, kids spend twice as much time watching TV as they do outside playing, she continued. “There ” are fewer play spaces, and their playtime is so much more structured. Children need unstructured time for random play, for imaginative play and to not always be so programmed. ” Since 2001, Fairytale has used its website to tell the KaBOOM! story to a national audience of mail order customers. The company has provided its brownies to volunteers during playground construction and matched the dollars contributed by its customers to the group. “Last year, we committed to help in a deeper way, Ms. Spitalny said. Fairytale decided to fund 100% of ” a KaBOOM! project. It raised $80,000 for a playground at Children’s First Academy, a school for homeless children in Tempe, AZ. The bakery’s staff members and their families participated in building it.

/ Baking & Snack / August 2012

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Baking&Snack - August 2012

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