Growing the Business of Whole Grain in the Australian Market: A 6-Year Impact Assessment.

Felicity Curtain,Alexandra Locke,Sara Grafenauer

doi:10.3390/nu12020313

Abstract

The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code does not regulate on-pack claims describing the amount of whole grain in foods. In July 2013, The Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council™ (GLNC) established a voluntary Code of Practice for Whole Grain Ingredient Content Claims (the Code) providing guidance for whole grain claims, with cut-off values and suggested wording ≥8 g, ≥16 g, and ≥24 g per manufacturer serve (contains; high and very high in whole grain), based on a 48 g whole grain daily target intake. The aim of this impact assessment was to report the uptake of the Code by manufacturers, changes in numbers of whole grain products, and claims on-pack since 2013, including compliance. The impact assessment was undertaken in August 2019, comparing current registered manufacturers (“users”) and their products to the total number of products in the market deemed eligible for registration through GLNC product audits since 2013. Reporting included breakfast cereals, bread products, crispbreads, crackers, rice/corn cakes, rice, pasta, noodles, couscous, other grains (e.g., quinoa, buckwheat, freekeh), and grain-based muesli bars. As of 30 June 2019, there were 33 registered users and 531 registered products in Australia and New Zealand representing 43% of the eligible manufacturers and 65% of the eligible whole grain foods. Three-quarters (78% and 74%) of the eligible breakfast cereals and bread products were registered with the Code in 2019, followed by 62% of grain-based muesli bars. Only 39% of crispbread, crackers, rice/corn cakes, and rice, pasta, noodles, couscous, and other grains were registered. From 2013 there has been a 71% increase in the number of whole grain foods making claims, demonstrating strong uptake by industry, with clearer, more consistent, and compliant on-pack communication regarding whole grain content.

Highlights

Food labelling is considered an important policy tool in promoting healthier food choices, and includes nutrition content and health claims that draw attention to certain health benefits or nutritional characteristics of a product [1]
While Food StandardsAustralia New Zealand (FSANZ) provides a definition for whole grain—‘the intact grain or the dehulled, ground, milled, cracked or flaked grain where the constituents—endosperm, germ and bran—are present in such proportions that represent the typical ratio of those fractions occurring in the whole cereal, and includes wholemeal’ [3]—they do not regulate the use of on-pack whole grain claims, as with nutrients, such as dietary fibre, energy, vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrate, and fat [2]
In order to create a standard for whole grain labelling in Australia and New Zealand, in 2013, the Grains & Legumes Nutrition CouncilTM (GLNC) established a voluntary Code of Practice for Nutrients 2020, 12, 313; doi:10.3390/nu12020313

Summary

Introduction

Food labelling is considered an important policy tool in promoting healthier food choices, and includes nutrition content and health claims that draw attention to certain health benefits or nutritional characteristics of a product [1]. In Australia, such voluntary claims are regulated by Food Standards. Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), who outline conditions that must be met in order to make claims [2]. While FSANZ provides a definition for whole grain—‘the intact grain or the dehulled, ground, milled, cracked or flaked grain where the constituents—endosperm, germ and bran—are present in such proportions that represent the typical ratio of those fractions occurring in the whole cereal, and includes wholemeal’ [3]—they do not regulate the use of on-pack whole grain claims, as with nutrients, such as dietary fibre, energy, vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrate, and fat [2]. In order to create a standard for whole grain labelling in Australia and New Zealand, in 2013, the Grains & Legumes Nutrition CouncilTM (GLNC) established a voluntary Code of Practice for Nutrients 2020, 12, 313; doi:10.3390/nu12020313 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients.

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