photo credit | gourmetmetrics
Pictured above is a breakfast cereal designed to appeal to the healthy eating crowd. How can we tell? Because every available corner has been used to display a symbol or claim suggesting healthfulness.
NEW RULES FOR HEALTHY
Thanks to a recent FDA proposed update for labelling food healthy, breakfast cereals like the one pictured above may want to make the claim at some point in the future.
To pass the first hurdle, the product must actually contain food from one of the 5 Food Groups. The ingredient list for the cereal pictured above minus additives and fortification reads as follows: whole grain wheat, raisins, cane sugar, whole grain rolled oats, dates, wheat flour, malted barley flour, rice flour, pecans, expeller pressed canola oil, salt, rice syrup, molasses.
Note that the manufacturer tells us in big bold letters that the product provides 32 grams whole grains as certified by the Whole Grain Council. That certification is a good indicator that the cereal has some whole grain. If 32 grams is enough whole grain to meet the proposed standard, there is a good chance the cereal will past the first hurdle and therefore meet the requirements to be classified as a GRAIN.
The second hurdle is nutrient based. Checking the label for nutrients, we see Saturated Fat is listed as 0 grams per serving and Sodium is well below the new 230 mg limit per serving. So far so good. There is a problem, however, and the problem is Added Sugar. The grams of added sugar exceed the newly proposed limit as measured by percentage Daily Value. In order for this cereal to qualify for the healthy claim, the manufacturer would need to reformulate.
THE CONUNDRUM
A conundrum is a confusing and difficult problem or question. With the proposal for new rules, both manufacturers and consumers have tough decisions to make.
Manufacturers who decide to reformulate have a wide range of options from artificial sweeteners to concentrated fruit purée and date paste. Manufacturers always of course have the option of ignoring the healthy claim and continuing to use all the other symbols and certifications to communicate healthfulness.
Consumers also have tough decisions. Some healthy eating enthusiasts will demand the products they buy display the healthy claim. Not all of course because other enthusiasts want sugar while still others will want to avoid artificial or laboratory synthesized sweeteners. Still others may believe traditional sugars are actually a better choice despite the fact the product can’t make a healthy claim.
HOWEVER …
Neither the degree of processing or fortification will impact the manufacturers right to claim the product is healthy as per the current proposal.
Check out the picture posted above and take a good look at the middle box identified as “FLAKES & CLUSTERS”. The flakes are identifiable as whole grain rolled oats. But those clusters? They look to my untrained eye like clumps of brown goo. Perhaps the end product of whole grain wheat that has been pulverized into a fine powder, mixed with a liquid, than extruded into a pre-formed “cluster”. Besides enrichment which is mandated, the cereal is fortified with 13 other vitamins and minerals.
Here’s my prediction. We will be talking a lot more about what is and is not food from now on.
