Cookies and rusks, bread, crackers, and other baked goods. The term ‘integral‘ still has many ambiguities, in fact too many. How to untangle the choice on the shelf.
Scientific studies converge In recognizing various health benefits to whole grains. Therefore, nutrition experts and trade journals recommend its consumption, and consumers comply.
The market has evolved consequently, in recent years, significantly expanding the supply of whole grain products. Evidence of this is the development of whole wheat pasta lines – once relegated to the organic and macrobiotic niche – even by industrial giants.
Too much ambiguity is still found, however, on the labels of baked goods designated as ‘whole grain.’ Which are often not actually such, since in addition to whole-wheat flour they contain different, more or less ‘refined’ flours.
The words ‘
100% whole grain
‘ has emerged in recent years precisely to distinguish foods that meet the authentic meaning of the word. This wording, it should be noted, is not stipulated in any standard. It has established itself in the practice of some practitioners, rather, as an antidote to general confusion.
Integral, the confusion on the shelf
Galbusera is one of many other operators facing the current on-shelf confusion over ‘whole grain’ baked goods. Its ‘Gran Saraceno’ shortbread (8.81 euros/kg) is actually defined as‘whole wheat shortbread with buckwheat.’ However, the ingredient list shows in first place a different flour, albeit ‘type 2,‘ meaning ‘unrefined,’ in the lexicon in vogue.
The product is appreciable in many ways, from the quality of the raw materials to the nutritional profile (and is rich in fiber, among other things). And yet, the wording ‘integral‘ is also ambiguous with respect to other references in its own catalog.
Paradoxically, the operator is a victim of the shelf confusion to which he himself contributes. To the point of having to specify‘100% whole wheat flour‘ (37%) on the label front of another cookie – the ‘VitaGì‘ (8.63 euros/kg) – which in turn is defined as‘whole wheat shortbread‘.
Integral, green-yellow-red light
A true whole grain product-regardless of the voluntary ‘100%‘ specification-is one made exclusively from whole grains and their derivatives (e.g., flours, semolina, flakes).
If, on the other hand, the ingredient list refers to the presence of refined grains (e.g., type 0 wheat flour), perhaps even with bran or middlings, we are dealing with a ‘false whole grain’.
Between true and false, various shades of gray are observed. Indeed of yellow, in the color code of traffic lights. These situations may come across as simply ambiguous or blatantly illegitimate, as the case may be.
Indeed, one must always evaluate the overall presentation of the product and its suitability to mislead the consumer about its essential characteristics. (1)
‘The list of ingredients, while accurate and exhaustive, may be inadequate to sufficiently correct the consumer’s erroneous or equivocal impression regarding the characteristics of a food product resulting from the other elements that make up the labeling of that product’ (EU Court of Justice). (2)
Three examples in the semaphore, to follow.
1) Monviso
, ‘
Whole wheat bruschetta’
.
Red
The product contains only type 0 wheat flour. The addition of wheat bran is not worth the lost wholeness of the product.
2) Mulino Bianco, Molinetti ‘with whole wheat flour‘. Yellow
The recipe contains wheat flour and a small amount of whole wheat buckwheat flour (6.2%). The wording‘with whole wheat flour‘ is formally permissible, but its placement on the front of the label-in the overall visual context-can mislead consumers. It would be better to specify on the same front‘with 6.2% whole-wheat flour‘. For the avoidance of doubt.
3) Mulino Bianco, ‘Whole-wheat rusks. Green
The recipe is true to promise, all as good as it should be.
Dario Dongo and Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) See reg. EU 1169/11, Articles 7 and 36
(2) See Court of Justice EU, Case C-195/14, judgment 4.6.15, para. 40)