Baking&Snack - June 2014 - 62

FIBER

Not true!
Did you hear the rumor that fiber ingredients added to
foods might not qualify as dietary fiber for the revised
Nutrition Facts panel proposed earlier this year by the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? Well, it's not true -
emphatically, not true.
"We are aware that misleading information around
this topic erroneously appeared in the media when FDA
published the proposed rules for nutrition labeling, said
"
Joe O'Neill, president and general manager, BENEO, Inc.,
Morris Plains, NJ.
Here's what happened.
FDA announced its overhaul of the Nutrition Facts panel
Feb. 27. That day, the Center for Science in the Public
Interest issued a press release stating it "gave FDA high
marks for proposing to increase the prominence of calories
and for proposing that the 'fiber' listed on Nutrition Facts
labels excludes purified, processed fibers such as maltodextrin and inulin, which are not as beneficial as the intact,
unprocessed fiber in whole foods.
"
In fact, the proposal contained no such exclusion when
published in full in the Federal Register of March 3.
What the new rules did, however, was repeat FDA's
earlier definition of dietary fiber that encompasses nondigestible soluble and insoluble carbohydrates with three
or more monomeric units that are intrinsic and intact in
plants and those that are isolated from raw foods by physical, enzymatic or chemical means or synthesized. Intrinsic
lignin is also included.
"The proposed rule treats all fibers that are not intrinsic
in plants equally, so inulin is not different in this regard,
"
observed Deborah Schulz, specialty carbohydrates product
line manager, Cargill, Wayzata, MN.
Dietary fiber categories discussed in FDA's proposal
match fiber definitions written by the Codex Alimentarius
Commission and those used by other nations. "The rule
would fill a void in the regulations by creating a definition
for dietary fiber, explained Scott Turowski, technical sales,
"
Sensus America, Inc., Lawrenceville, NJ.
It's also not true that added fibers are less beneficial than
those naturally present. FDA rules provide food companies
a way to prove the facts of the matter.
"What FDA actually is proposing is that manufacturers of
non-digestible carbohydrates, i.e. all types of dietary fibers,
should provide scientific evidence to FDA to demonstrate a
beneficial physiological effect, Mr. O'Neill said. "Upon posi"
tive review by FDA, these non-digestible carbohydrates will
be listed by FDA and be eligible for dietary fiber labeling.
"
He described inulin and oligofructose, derived from chicory
root, as "the most well-researched fibers worldwide.
"
- Laurie Gorton

grain fiber into unexpected parts of the finished product.
She said the company offers a fiber ingredient produced from waxy, hulless barley that is high in both
beta-glucan and overall dietary fiber when compared
with traditional food barley and other grains. "It has
more than three times the total and soluble dietary fiber
compared with oats and 10 times the fiber of brown rice,"
Dr. Arndt said. "It also has about half the starch compared with most other grains, making it a unique option
to boost the fiber content baked foods and snacks."
When considering the benefits of very finely milled
cereal fiber, Watson, Inc. developed proprietary milling
equipment capable of micronizing cereal by-products,
which can then be used for human consumption.
"We use bran-based products such as rice, oats, corn
and wheat and mill them to under 10 microns, making
the particle size quite small," Mr. Weibel explained. "The
smaller the particle size, the more bioavailable the micronutrients become. Further, they are organoleptically
invisible. The micronized by-product particles can be
recombined with refined flours to make terrific breads.
We've had interest from pasta makers and conventional
bread and roll bakers who have found that use of these
fractions have significantly improved their existing
products and provided new product opportunities."

Down the road
As consumers and regulators alike continue their demand for an increase in the fiber content of food, manufacturers can expect to see changes ranging from sources
to technology to processing to shape and size.
SunOpta's Ms. Peterson predicted the industry will
see a broader range of fibers from different sources as

Micronization makes bran particles organoleptically invisible and easier to
incorporate into baked foods.
Watson, Inc.

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