When dietitians, consumers and the media in the US and around the world want reliable information on the nutrients found in whole grains (or any foods for that matter), they turn to the USDA's National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. When they get there, they'll find information on most whole grains, from amaranth to wild rice. But some up-and-coming grains have not yet been added to the database, including farro, einkorn, freekeh, kañiwa, black rice, red rice and teff flour.

USDA has limited budgets for data analysis, and welcomes collaboration from industry partners to fund some of the costs. Recently for instance, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program helped add new sorghum values to the nutrient database - a move which has helped us talk about sorghum in media interviews. Do you have a keen interest in making sure "your" grain is in the USDA's database? For a cost of $2,000 to $20,000 (depending on number of samples and nutrients tested) you can "sponsor" a grain. Contact Cynthia Harriman (617-896-4820 or cynthia@oldwayspt.org) and we'll connect you with the right folks at USDA.
 

Last week, Cynthia Harriman, Director of Food & Nutrition Strategies, had the pleasure of presenting a talk on current definitions of a whole grain food at a conference in Savannah, GA titled "Whole Grains... The Next Super Food." This event, the AACCI Milling and Baking Division's Spring Technical Conference, focused on how an industry set up to support refined grains can retool its infrastructure and standard methods to take advantage of the growing popularity of whole grains. You can read our blog about the conference here.

The WGC's presentation focused on the shortcomings of recent efforts to define a whole grain food (read our comments to FDA here), and proposed instead a three-tiered approach to naming whole grain foods:

1. 100% whole grain foods -- all the grain is whole grain, and contains at least 16g whole grain per serving.
2. Whole grain foods -- at least half of the grain is whole grain, and contains at least 8g whole grain per serving.
3. Foods containing whole grain -- contain at least 8g whole grain per serving, but contain more refined grain. These foods can declare the amount of whole grain per serving, but cannot use the term "whole grain" as part of their names.

What do you think is the best way to define a whole grain food? Share your thoughts with Cynthia.