2008 Q1 Newsletters

March 2008 Newsletter (Sent March 28, 2008)

The Whole Grain Stamp has crossed the Atlantic, and is now being used in Britain. One of our newest members, British Bakels, held a major press conference on March 14, launching their use of the Whole Grain Stamp throughout the UK. It's exciting to see our campaign catching worldwide interest. Click here to learn more.

Get Counted — in the Whole Grains Giveaway

Whole Grains Month (September) is still six months away, but we're starting now to orchestrate a big media splash with The Whole Grains Giveaway. It's a great opportunity for all of us to help our neighbors - and draw extra attention to WGC members' amazing range of good whole grain products.

Here's how it works. We're asking each and every one of our members to donate some amount of whole grain products to a worthy charity of their choice during the month of September 2008.

Here are just a few ideas:

• "adopt" a local day care center, and give them enough bread for a week - or the whole month
• organize a spaghetti supper at your local homeless shelter, and donate the whole grain pasta
• supply your entire school district with free "tasting samples" of your best products
• balance your inventory, and donate the extras to your local food pantry

Give a little, give a lot. The amount will vary from company to company, but we're aiming for 100% participation, whether you can give one box of breakfast bars, a pallet of pasta, or a truckload of tortillas.

On our end, we'll add up all your donations behind the scenes as you submit them, and start posting the total as soon as the number becomes impressive - with headlines such as, "Whole Grains Council members pledge to donate 6 tons of whole grain foods to help Americans eat better..." We'll also make available a list of donors' business locations, so that journalists can add a local angle to their stories, such as "Here in the Seacoast region, Bestbread Bakery donated loaves of their Wholy Grain Bread to the Rivermouth Meals on Wheels program."

Start brainstorming now and tell us your plans as soon as you know them. We'll be keeping a running tally as the donations mount, and promoting the Whole Grains Giveaway constantly with the media - from now until September and in follow-up PR. So, the sooner we hear from you, the more attention your contributions will get. You can read more about The Whole Grains Giveaway on our website, including instructions on how to sign up.

WGC Goes to Washington

Keeping abreast of government policy - and educating policymakers - are important to the success of our efforts to promote whole grains through the Whole Grains Council. With that in mind, we traveled to Washington, DC earlier this month to meet with nutrition leaders in various government agencies.

At USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, we met with Director Brian Wansink and Deputy Director Robert Post (a keynote speaker at our last conference) to discuss the upcoming 2010 Dietary Guidelines. Our main goal was to learn how Oldways and the WGC can best support the role of whole grains in the nation's next official nutrition update. One result: we'll be working with our Scientific Advisors to make sure that all the most recent research on whole grains is available to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee when it starts its work this fall.

We met next with USDA's Food & Nutrition Service (FNS) to trade ideas with school lunch officials about the best ways to bring more whole grains to school lunches. FNS recently asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to undertake a two-year study that will then be used as the foundation for new school lunch rules - which means that a specific standard for whole grains in school lunches will not be set until sometime after February 2010. We also met with USDA's Economic Research Service, to brainstorm options for tracking Americans' increased consumption of whole grain. Both meetings were productive and inspired us with ideas for new educational programs!

We wrapped up the trip with a day at the WIC Implementation Summit. WIC - the Women, Infants and Children supplemental feeding program - has just had its first major update in over 30 years; now, for the first time, at-risk women and their kids can get vouchers for whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. Oldways and the Whole Grains Council are working with WIC to create lists of qualifying whole grain products, to smooth implementation of this major change.

Consumers are more likely to change their eating behavior when they hear a consistent and compelling message from all sources. By trading ideas regularly with Washington leaders, Oldways works to ensure that the nutrition advice coming from Washington is the best it can be, and that we're supporting those policies that effectively encourage healthy eating, as we create our latest innovative campaigns - not only for the Whole Grains Council but also for Oldways' Latino Nutrition Coalition and Mediterranean Foods Alliance programs.

Spring 2009 Conference — Save the Budget

Our next whole grains conference will be a year from now, in Spring 2009. We know many of you are already starting to work on your FY2009 budgets - so please consider setting aside marketing funds to be a sponsor of the conference. Sponsorships range from $5000 to $50,000 and bring an important level of added visibility to your company and your products. You can learn more about the benefits of sponsorship on the WGC website.

Inspired by the productiveness of our recent trip to the nation's capitol, we're exploring options for holding the conference in Washington, DC so that government policymakers and health officials can easily attend.

Since our conference will take place while the elements of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines are being considered, this is an important time to make as much information as possible about whole grains available to the widest possible range of decision makers.

Three Podcasts Help Market Whole Grains

Partnering with other organizations offers the Whole Grains Council great opportunities to spread our message farther afield. Most recently, we teamed up with IDDBA (the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association) to create three podcasts to educate their members about the health benefits of whole grains, the definition of whole grains, and the best ways to market whole grains.

You can view these podcasts at IDDBA's website - and send the link to your customers or your staff. Thanks to the hard work of Mary Kay O'Connor, IDDBA Director of Education, and her team, these three podcasts are full of useful information that could help expand your whole grain business.

Whole Grains Fact Sheet Now in Spanish

Last year, we created a Whole Grains Fact Sheet, in another successful partnership, this time with the American Dietetic Association and the Wheat Foods Council. This Fact Sheet was sent to RDs nationwide, and can be downloaded from the WGC, WFC and ADA websites.

Now this piece will also be available in Spanish, thanks to an excellent translation by Kezia Frayjo, Program Manager for the Latino Nutrition Coalition, another Oldways Family program. Layout is being completed now at ADA, and the PDF is scheduled to be posted in early April on our website. Look under "Resources" and then "Educational Materials."

Update Packaging — Maximize Your Online Presence

WGC staff has recently done one of our periodic grocery store sweeps, aimed at making sure consumers are getting clear messages about whole grains. Overall, we found strong, consistent messaging that we know is helping consumers improve their diets.

We do have some pointers, however, for doing even better:

1. Use the words "whole" or "whole grain" consistently on your ingredient lists. Consumers don't know you're offering whole grains when your ingredient list says "millet" or "oatmeal" or "bulgur." Next time you reprint packaging, change this to "whole millet," "whole oatmeal" or "whole grain bulgur." Get credit for your great ingredients -- and eliminate consumer confusion!

2. Complete the transition to gram-specific Stamps. Nearly two years have passed since we asked all WGC members to change from the original (Good Source / Excellent Source) Stamps to the gram-specific Phase II Stamps. If you are one of the few companies still using packaging with the old Stamps, we will be contacting you for your commitment to phasing it out.

3. Update your online listings. Most of you have switched to the gram-specific Stamps and have updated our Product Database, so your listings on our website - visited regularly by hordes of consumers - are accurate. Some of you, however, have not yet worked with us to make these updates. This means your older listings say only "8g" or "16g" and your products may not seem as robustly whole grain as they actually are. Check your listings today on the WGC website and email Kara (kberrini@oldwayspt.org) if you need to make any updates.

If you have any questions about your responsibilities for upholding the rules of the Whole Grain Stamp program, please review the appropriate Stamp Usage Guide (standard, FSIS, or Canadian) on our website or contact Kara Berrini at 617-896-4880 with any questions.

We hope all of you are enjoying the buds and birds of spring!

Best regards from all of us at Oldways and the Whole Grains Council,

Cindy
------------------------
Cynthia Harriman
Director of Food and Nutrition Strategies
Oldways / The Whole Grains Council
603-436-1608 direct
617-896-4820 main office

February 2008 Newsletter (Sent February 26, 2008)

Dear Whole Grains Council Members,

Thanks to all of you who sent us confidential sales projections for our "How Many Stamps?" project, in our January newsletter. At this point, we estimate that the Whole Grain Stamp will appear on at least 815,533,732 packages in 2008.

Want your numbers counted too? Email us with the total number of packages printed with the Stamp that you expect to sell this year. Your projections will be totally confidential and will only be used in-house to compute the total aggregate number we'll be using in ongoing PR efforts.

WG Menu Symbol in Restaurants, Foodservice

If foodservice sales are important to your business, the WGC has a new marketing tool for you: the Whole Grain Menu Symbol.

Featuring the WGC's signature grain sheaf and the words "whole grain," the Menu Symbol reduces the Whole Grain Stamp to its essence, so it can print clearly at small sizes on menus. As with the Stamp, the Menu Symbol can be used to promote any dish that contains at least 8g (a half serving) of whole grain.

Your sales team can use the Whole Grain Menu Symbol as a valuable tool. Just explain that using your whole grain products will qualify them to use the Menu Symbol -- then reap the competitive advantage. We've prepared a handout your foodservice salespeople can use to explain the goodness of whole grains and the promotional benefits, through the WGC, for restaurants and foodservice establishments serving whole grains.

Click here to learn about the Whole Grain Menu Symbol.

Visit our Member Support Materials page to download our "Whole Grains in Foodservice" handout.

Sprouted Grains Recognized as Whole Grains

Several of our members make their breads, tortillas and other whole grain products with sprouted grains. They germinate the grains, and when the new sprouts peek out of the kernels, they grind everything up and use this (instead of dry flour) as their main ingredient.

The WGC has always accepted sprouted grains as a whole grain ingredient. But in December, the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) turned down a request to use the Whole Grain Stamp on a chicken pizza with a sprouted whole grain crust, due to uncertainty about this approach.

WGC leaders worked with AACC International's Whole Grains Task Force, and after review the AACC Intl. Board of Directors released the following statement:

"Malted or sprouted grains containing all of the original bran, germ and endosperm shall be considered whole grains as long as sprout growth does not exceed kernel length and nutrient values have not diminished. These grains should be labeled as malted or sprouted whole grain."

Thanks to this clarification, USDA / FSIS will now accept sprouted grains as whole grains, as long as they meet AACC's definition. Read more about this topic.

Last Call for WIC Lists (February 29)

States are scrambling to implement the new inclusion of whole grains in the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) supplemental feeding program. As you may know, the federal government has published new guidelines for foods subsidized by the WIC program - but now the ball is in the states' courts, as they all work to create individual lists of specific approved products that meet the federal guidelines.

We're pleased that many of the state and local WIC programs have turned to the WGC with questions, and several agencies have downloaded our "Whole Grains at Every Meal" PowerPoint, available on our website, for internal staff training. On March 11, we'll be presenting information to facilitate WIC's adoption of whole grains at the WIC Food Package Implementation Summit in Washington, D.C.

One resource we've been asked to provide is a list of qualifying whole grain foods. WIC participants are not generally free to buy any qualifying product; they can only choose from a limited subset of specific approved products on each local WIC agency's list. The WGC list will help them create these local lists, so send us your product lists by Friday February 29 if you want to be included. Thanks to those of you who have already sent us your lists.

Read more about this topic, including qualifications for WIC-approved products, and email us to request templates to send us your lists.

School Foods Project with U. of Minnesota

The WGC is partnering with researchers at the University of Minnesota (and Texas A&M) in a USDA-funded project studying ways to make whole grains more available in schools. According to Dr. Len Marquart, their goal is "to assist foodservice personnel in providing appealing whole grain products to children to increase consumption."

Dr. Marquart's colleague, Mary Orsted, will be contacting those of you who have told us you're interested in working with schools, to learn more about the whole grain products you have available for this market. Researchers told the WGC that "the information we collect will be used to aid foodservice personnel in determining what whole grain products are on the market, to see if gaps exist in availability of whole grains, and determine how these gaps can be addressed."

Email Cynthia Harriman (cynthia@oldwayspt.org) if you want to make sure your company's products are included in this project, and tell us the best person to contact at your company.

Meeting and Greeting WGC Members

The Oldways / Whole Grains Council staff always enjoys every possible opportunity to meet our members face to face, and trade shows are often a great way to do this. Here's our schedule for the next few months. If you'll be at these shows, we hope to see you there.

March 14-16, Natural Products Expo West, Anaheim
Nicki Heverling, MS, RD, who heads up Oldways' work with the Mediterranean Diet, will be at Expo West.

April 27-29, All Things Organic / Fancy Food, Chicago
Kara Berrini, WGC Program Manager, will be on hand to meet as many members as possible.

May 15, Tortilla Industry Association, Scottsdale, AZ
Cynthia Harriman, Director of Food & Nutrition Strategies, will speak to attendees about whole grain trends.

May 17-20, National Restaurant Association, Chicago
Cynthia Harriman will speak and visit with WGC members.

June 12-14, European Millers Association, Helsinki
Cynthia Harriman will speak on the success of whole grain marketing in the U.S.

July 19-23, School Nutrition Association, Philadelphia
Cynthia Harriman will speak in two different sessions on whole grains for kids in schools.

Note that our annual(ish) WGC Member Meeting will henceforth be held at WGC conferences. In the past we've held a regular member meeting in Chicago in May, as so many members were participating in FMI, ATO and Fancy Food. But with FMI's move away from Chicago, this is no longer possible. We had a rousing Member Meeting in Kansas City, and look forward to our next one in Spring 2009 at our next conference. Stay tuned for details.

Remember, we have buttons, stickers, signs and other event support materials available to members at no charge.
Best regards from all of us at Oldways and the Whole Grains Council,

Cindy
------------------------
Cynthia Harriman
Director of Food and Nutrition Strategies
Oldways / The Whole Grains Council
603-436-1608 direct
617-896-4820 main office

January 2008 Newsletter (Sent January 28, 2008)

Dear Whole Grains Council members,

2008 is off to a good start, and we look forward to another year of working together with all of you. We've included an overview of planned 2008 programs at the end of this month's member newsletter.

Add Your Products to our WIC List
As you may know, the federal WIC (Women, Infants and Children) supplemental feeding program recently updated the foods it supplies to at-risk families for the first time in 30 years, and whole grains are now part of the required mix. Rev. Douglas Greenaway, Executive Director of the National WIC Association, has asked the WGC to compile a list of products that meet WIC whole grain requirements. This list will be used to help state and local WIC programs specify specific products authorized for use in their areas.

Four kinds of whole grain products can qualify:
1. Whole grain* breakfast cereals that contain at least 28mg iron per 100g dry cereal, and no more than 21.2 g sugars per 100g dry cereal
2. Whole grain* bread
3. Specific whole grains on their own: brown rice, bulgur, oatmeal and whole barley without added sugars, fats, oils or salt
4. Soft whole corn tortillas or whole wheat tortillas, with whole grain as the first ingredient

* To qualify, whole grains must generally meet the requirements of the Whole Grain Health Claim and have whole grain as the first ingredient. The Whole Grain Health Claim requires that products:
a. contain at least 51% whole grain, as a proportion of total weight as consumed
b. contain no more than 1g saturated fat per RACC and no more than 20 mg cholesterol per RACC
c. contain no more than 6.5 g total fat per RACC and no more than 0.5g trans fat per RACC

RACC is the Reference Amount Customarily Consumed, or FDA's standard serving size. It's 50g for bread, and varies for cereals depending on type of cereal. (We can supply details if you're unsure of your RACCs.)

Email Kara (kberrini@oldwayspt.org) with your lists of qualifying products if you'd like them included on our WIC list.

Canadian Whole Grain Stamp Graphics Available
Last month we told you about our plans to launch a bilingual Canadian version of the Whole Grain Stamp. We've now completed the graphics for this Stamp, and will make them available on CD to any member planning to use the Stamp in Canada. Go to For Members / How to Use the Canadian Stamp for more information, including a copy of the "not object" letter from CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency).

Trade Show Materials
It's trade show season again. Almost one-third of our members will be exhibiting at Natural Products Expo West in mid-March, and many more of you have other shows scheduled. Promote whole grains at your events, with our free member materials, including buttons, stickers, and signs. Details on how to order these free materials are at For Members / Support Materials on our website. The impact is striking when several members at the same tradeshow all hand out WGC materials -- it produces great synergy and attention to the whole grain cause.

How Many Stamps will Consumers See in 2008? Three quarters of a billion and counting...
The Whole Grain Stamp is now on over 1,600 products. That number, impressive as it is, is just the tip of the iceberg when you stop to realize how many times consumers will see the Whole Grain Stamp this year. We started pondering just what that number would be. If each product sold 10,000 units, for instance, that means the Stamp would appear on grocery shelves 1,600,000 times...

For fun, we wrote to a few dozen members, and asked for an agregate number of units for their Stamped products. So far, nine members have responded -- and our total number of "Stamps appearing in 2008" currently stands at 758,900,000.

Help us push this total higher. Email us with the total number of units of "Stamp-bearing" products you project your company will sell in 2008. Your number will be totally confidential and will be used only as part of our aggregate total. And then? We'll use this number when we talk to the media about the success and impact of the Whole Grain Stamp program. We salute our 180+ members for making the Whole Grain Stamp program such a rousing success!

WGC Programs for 2008 -- "Make Half Your Grains Whole"
We've worked up a great array of programs to reach consumers during the coming year; as always, we make sure to include something to meet the needs of all of our diverse members.

Last year's theme of "Just Ask for Whole Grains" has been replaced by a new theme: "Make Half Your Grains Whole." Although this slogan was introduced with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines, so far it's been just that -- a slogan. Our mission, in 2008, is to create a world where half (or more!) of the grains really ARE whole grains. We'll be asking consumers to check their grocery carts and pantries: Are half your grains whole?... We'll be asking grocers to check their bread and cereal aisles: Are half your grains whole?... We'll be asking leading newspapers and magazines to look at articles containing recipes: Are half your grains whole?... And we'll even be asking our members to check their own progress on making half their grains whole.

We've come a long way in three years, and it's easy to say we're "done" because whole grains have reached 10-20% penetration in many contexts. But it's unlikely that Americans will really make half their grains whole until we create an environment that truly reflects this.

Here are just a few of the ideas on the table for 2008. We'll try to implement as many as possible in the next 11 months:

1. Retail Stores: Run a whole grain sampling program in stores during Whole Grains Month (September)... Make promotional materials, recipes and graphics available to grocery stores... Offer coupons for Whole Grains Month...

2. Schools and Families: Create a foodservice recipe exchange of whole grain recipes... Speak at the School Nutrition Association conference... Prepare an information kit for parents, to help them help their schools serve better food... Organize a sampling program so members can introduce their products to schools...

3. Restaurants: Run the Whole Grains Challenge again in September... Promote our new Restaurant / Foodservice Memberships... Add more restaurants to our online list... Speak at the National Restaurant Association conference...

4. Media: Encourage newspapers and magazines to pledge to include whole grain recipes and information in more stories... Develop new partnerships (like that we have with Mintel) to keep on top of trends and statistics about whole grains... Continue generating at least 200 media stories on whole grain, as we did last year...

5. Manufacturers: Provide new informational materials members can use in selling whole grains... Emphasize the value of the Whole Grain Stamp in the media... Organize the Good Grains Giveaway and encourage 100% of our members to donate whole grains to a school or charity (by the way, we donated 716 pounds of whole grains to the Harvesters Food Bank in Kansas City after our conference!)...

Behind the scenes we'll also be planning our Spring 2009 conference, ramping up efforts to make sure whole grains play a prominent role in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, and continuing our important everyday support of members with resources and information.

You'll be hearing more specifics about each of our 2008 programs as they get underway, so stay tuned.

Best regards from all of us at Oldways and the Whole Grains Council,

Cindy
------------------------
Cynthia Harriman
Director of Food and Nutrition Strategies
Oldways / The Whole Grains Council
603-436-1608 direct
617-896-4820 main office