Milling & Baking News - May 17, 2022 - 12

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by USDA, " said Robb MacKie, president
Checkoff effort set to end as
GFF petitions for withdrawal
advancing its mission to elevate the public's
perception of grain-based foods.
" The challenges facing our industry
today are perhaps even more intense
than those faced in 2004, when GFF was
formed, " said Debo Mukherjee, GFF
co-chair and chief marketing officer,
Flowers Foods. " Our board is committed
to continuing to push against anti-carb
and anti-grain messages through the
strong work of GFF in research and science-based
messaging initiatives. "
Kirk Stehr, GFF co-chair and senior vice
president of Grain Craft, said industry
disagreement over the checkoff program
was undermining the promotion of grainbased
foods.
" As vested stakeholders in this industry
GFF supports, the board agreed that
the checkoff conversation has become a
distraction to the work GFF needs to do
on behalf of the whole industry, " he said.
" GFF has enjoyed unprecedented success
year after year, even during the COVID
described by the group. While those
interviewed described GFF programming
as " worthwhile and valuable, " there was a
widely held view that the foundation was
not large enough to " move the needle "
of sales growth. A checkoff
program was intended to elevate
the annual spending on product
promotion and research while
ensuring participants contributed
in an equitable manner.
While the challenges
facing the market for grainbased
foods remain, many
forces affecting the industry
have changed considerably, said Vince
Melchiorre, GFF board member and
senior vice president and general manager,
Bimbo Bakeries USA.
" No one in our industry has been
untouched by the realities of the COVID
pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain
challenges and commodity market volatility, "
Mr. Melchiorre said. " The baking and
and chief executive officer of the ABA.
" GFF sought out industry input and listened
to all industry perspectives and
made this decision accordingly.
" ABA relies significantly on the
important work and resources of GFF
in pursuing its policy priorities for
the industry. Specifically, the research
partnerships have been invaluable in
promoting grains in the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans and
ensuring ABA's work with the
Food and Drug Administration
on nutrition policy is medically
and scientifically based. ABA
is eager to continue the
strong partnership with
GFF to protect the industry
in upcoming Dietary
Guideline debates and with
the recently announced White House
Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and
Health. Grain foods have an important
role to play and together we can ensure
our voice is heard. "
Jane DeMarchi, president of NAMA,
" The challenges facing our industry today are
perhaps even more intense than those faced in
2004, when GFF was formed. "
- Debo Mukherjee, Flowers Foods, Inc.
pandemic, and the GFF board wants to
do everything in our power to share this
success with our industry and to make
sure resources are available to continue
to grow this work. "
While interest began to percolate in
2013 in discussions between industry
leaders, work on a potential checkoff
program began in earnest in 2016 when
Tom Nagle, a managing partner of Statler
Nagle, conducted 55 interviews across
about 35 companies about ways to make
the GFF's work even more effective.
During the exploratory stage, millers,
bakers and other GFF supporters were
asked what success would look like, and
increased sales were the principal goal
12
MILLING & BAKING NEWS
milling industries are known for being a
family of great companies. The way forward
for our industry is to understand
that the checkoff opportunity is not a fit
for us and to move forward with strength,
belief in the incredible story around the
products we make, and a vision for GFF
that delivers research leadership and
thought advocacy. "
Asked for their perspectives about the
withdrawal, the heads of the ABA and
the North American Millers' Association
each emphasized the need for the GFF to
advance its work.
" ABA respects the decision by the Grain
Foods Foundation to withdraw the proposed
wheat checkoff from consideration
added, " I recognize that it was a tough
decision to withdraw the checkoff when
there is definitely a need for promotion
of bread and grain-based foods in the
face of on-going interest in low carb and
gluten-free diets. NAMA hopes GFF will
continue to be a valuable source of scientific
information about the health benefits
of grain-based foods and can capitalize
on the renaissance of home baking and
the return to comfort foods, like bread,
during the pandemic. "
Whether the concerns expressed by
millers and bakers during the exploratory
period - that the annual budget of
the GFF was not large enough to " move
the needle " of overall product demand
- will be addressed remains to be seen.
Checkoff programs for various commodities
currently operating often run into
the tens of millions of dollars per year
with some topping over $100 million. A
2019 iteration of the breadbasket checkoff
program approved by the checkoff steering
committee proposed an initial annual
budget of $15 million.
While modest for an industry the size
of grain-based foods, the proposed checkoff
program would have been far larger
than the annual budget of the GFF, which
is just under $2 million in the current
fiscal year. MBN
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Milling & Baking News - May 17, 2022

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