World Grain - August 2016 - 6

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Now an attack on
how flour is milled

f ever a food product and the industry that
makes it were slandered, a recent weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal,
the newspaper with the largest U.S. circulation, stands out for its misleading treatment
of the wheat milling industry and its main
SURGXFWZKHDWÀRXU+DUGO\DQ\WKLQJZRUVH
has been said or alleged about a food product
than this description of a "lily-white comPRGLW\ ÀRXU DQ LQJUHGLHQW VKRUW RQ ÀDYRU
and nutrition." The article, leading the "Off
Duty" section of the newspaper's May 21-22
issue, makes horrible accusations regarding
WKHTXDOLW\RIPRGHUQGD\ZKHDWÀRXUDQG
bread. The article's title, "A Call to Carbs,"
is more a call to arms for grain-based foods.
For all those working to produce foods
that are eaten avidly around the world, the
writer, Elizabeth G. Dunn, has blasphemed
their work and the products for which the
industry of grain-based foods has long had
great pride. While nothing she writes, as
devastating as it may seem, even slightly diminishes reasons for that pride, the industry
needs to counter-attack to lessen the impact
of her frightful accusations.
Understanding that a newspaper needs
articles that offer something new to draw
readers and advertisers prompts the belief
that this piece won Page 1 because of its foFXVHGDWWDFNRQZKLWHÀRXUPDGHLQPRGHUQ
mills. This is different from typical criticism
RI EDNLQJ FRPSDQLHV ,W LV RQH RI WKH ¿UVW
articles encountered in the current period of
unrelenting criticism of nearly every aspect
of the food supply to criticize wheat varieties as well as the way wheat is "ground."
By blaming farmers who have expanded the
wheat supply by seeking varieties resistant
to Nature's attacks, the article centers on a
different enemy.
These awful allegations are not just "new"
for the current period but exceed the bite of
many long ago times. An industry problem
for many centuries, these assaults accelerated in the 19th and at the start of the 20th
century following transformation from stone
grinding to steel roller mills. This revolution

allowed output to keep pace with growth
of population, modern baking and food reWDLOLQJ 'DPQLQJ ZKLWH ÀRXU DV ³D PRGHUQ
invention," Dunn quotes a supposed expert
saying that the total of nutrients removed in
milling "tracks pretty well with the nutrients
WKDWDUHGH¿FLHQWLQWKH86SRSXODWLRQ´
The unstated charge here is that modern
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is provided and no mention is made of enrichment with vitamins and folic acid often hailed as one of the most positive steps
ever taken in food making. Looking through
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that have contributed positively to the health
RIGLHWVLQPDQ\QDWLRQV+HUQHJDWLYHVDERXW
ÀRXU DUH WRWDOO\ RSSRVLWH RI ZKDW TXDOL¿HG
nutrition authorities have stated for years.
The "saving grace" of this article is its
emphasis on restaurants and retail bakeries
that have evolved fairly recently in areas of
the United States that offer food centered on
WKHZDQWVRIKLJKLQFRPHSRSXODWLRQV+HUH
are the California and Northeast regions that
have high-class specialty bakers and retailers
seeking to cultivate people for whom spending on food is much less a problem than
their own shifting eccentricities about what
WKH\ZDQWWRHDW+HUHDUHEDNHUVVWDUWLQJWR
grind specially grown wheat kernels to produce loaves of bread costing many multiples
of sliced enriched white bread, whole grain
bread and specialty loaves made with regular
ÀRXUIRUVDOHLQVXSHUPDUNHWVDQGUHWDLOIRRG
stores.
Grain-based foods has no argument with
specialty businesses wanting to make their
RZQÀRXUDVZHOODVWREDNHGLIIHUHQWORDYHV
with numerous ingredients as long as they
do not press their wrongheaded views of the
ZD\PRVWÀRXULVPLOOHGDQGPRVWEUHDGLV
baked. The latter is a nutritious, good eating bargain. Its makers recoil from reading
about highly expensive food eccentricities
marketed by untruthful attacks.
Morton I. Sosland
Editor-in-chief

Chairman and CEO
Publisher
Associate Publisher/
Managing Editor
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WORLD GRAIN (ISSN 0745-8991) Volume 34, issue 8,

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August 2016 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - August 2016

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