WGC banner 2015
In This Issue
Whole Grains Contest
Donate a Case of Your Products
Deals and Discounts
Does Your Math Add Up?
WGC Co-packing List
New WGC Logo!
Quick Links



An Oldways Family Program

Oldways is a nonprofit food and nutrition education organization, inspiring good health 
through cultural food traditions and lifestyles.
July 2015

Dear Whole Grains Council members,

We enjoyed seeing some of you in Portland, Oregon last month at the Whole Grain Summit 2015. If you weren't able to attend, we invite you to download our WGC summary of the highlights of the conference. You may also be interested in downloading a copy of Cynthia's presentation on today's top myths and misunderstandings about whole grains -- including the best science-based responses for erasing those myths!

September's right around the corner, so much of this email will concern Whole Grains Month. Read on, to learn how you can take full advantage of this annual promotion!

Whole Grains Month Contest in September

Join us in September for our "Share the Goodness of Whole Grains" Instagram (@whole_grains_council) photo contest. We're encouraging consumers across the country to show us how they share their favorite whole grains with others - whether it be baking a loaf of bread for a neighbor, bringing granola bars to their kid's soccer game, or making extra grain salad for lunch and sharing it with a cubicle-mate. When they post photos about their sharing, they'll be in the running for $500 cash and other great prizes.

 

You can benefit from the buzz, by talking up the contest on your own social media, with a link to our contest. Encourage your followers to use your products in their photos and you'll get extra visibility -- especially since our media partner, Cooking Light magazine, will be regramming selected entries and helping us spread the word in other ways! Get your social media team on board. If we all work together, we can make a big splash.

A big thanks to King Arthur Flour Company for donating a $250 gift card to their online store as one of our prizes for this contest. We welcome members' offers of appropriate prizes -- don't be shy; contact Cynthia Harriman (cynthia@oldwayspt.org or 617-896-4820) if you want to donate a prize and we'll talk!

Donate a Case of your Company's Products
Another way we're going to "Share the Goodness" in September is by donating many cases of whole grain foods to a food bank or food pantry in our contest winner's home state. Will you pledge a case of your products to a good cause? If so, contact Harley Songin (harley@oldwayspt.org) and tell her what you'll be donating, so we can put your name up in lights on the donor list associated with our contest. In mid-October, we'll tell you the winning organization's name and address so you can send your case(s) directly to them.

 

Got any Deals and Discounts?
We know that many of you are planning your own special giveaways, discounts and deals during September, to take advantage of Whole Grains Month. If you tell us what you're planning, we can put a link on the WGC website -- and feature your special deal in the September issue of our Just Ask for Whole Grains consumer newsletter. Contact Kelly Toups (kelly@oldwayspt.org) if you have a special giveaway, discount or deal you'd like us to promote for you.

(Guess what? We'll promote your special deals ANYTIME, not just during September, so always make sure to tell Kelly when you've got something going on that you think whole grain lovers would be interested in!)

 

Harley's Tip: Does Your Math Add Up?

 

Harley Songin, who heads up our Whole Grain Stamp program, offers a monthly tip to smooth the process of product approvals. 

July Tip: We know that your products' credibility with consumers is very important to you. You can help make sure consumers trust your company, by checking the math carefully on Whole Grain Stamp product submissions. 

Let's say you have a breakfast cereal that you make by combining 28g of whole grain with 3g of sugar, for each serving. You then dry the product below the original moisture level and end up with a 30g serving. You fill out the Product Registration Form telling us you put 28g of whole grain in each serving (true) and your Nutrition Facts Panel says you've got 3g of sugar (true). But if we allow you to put 28g on your Stamp, we're going to get an email from a consumer saying, "Company x is lying. 30g minus 3g of sugar is 27g." (Yes, we really do get those emails.) 

FDA has advised us that you must use the PROCESSED weight -- in this case 27g -- on the Stamp. We've seen this issue arise repeatedly with extra-dry products -- especially cereals and popcorns -- and we'll alert you if your submission has this problem.

Contact Harley (harley@oldwayspt.org or 617-896-4832) with any questions about Stamp usage or membership. This is a good time to download a copy of our Stamp Usage Guide on this page, and remind all your staff of the rules of our program, to head off problems before they can occur.

 

Get on our Co-packing / Private Label List
generic cereal box We frequently get inquiries from companies looking for co-packers or private label manufacturers. We maintain a list of WGC members who've said they're interested in this kind of business - but it's woefully out of date. If your company does this kind of work (and you want more!) help us update our list. Contact Harley Songin (harley@oldwayspt.org) if you'd like your company to be added to this list. 

Please supply the following information:
Company name:
Contact person's name:
-- Contact person's email:
-- Contact person's phone:
Categories of products you will manufacture for others:
Notes or comments:

We also maintain two other lists where you can feature your products: our consumer Mail Order Grains list, and a B2B Ingredient Sources list. Get details on adding your products to all our lists, by clicking here.

 

Our New Whole Grains Council Logo
The Whole Grains Council is just one of many innovative, effective nutrition programs from Boston-based nonprofit Oldways. While many of you are well aware of the Whole Grains Council, the name Oldways may not be as familiar to you. To more clearly link Oldways with its Whole Grains Council, we've updated the WGC logo to make the Oldways name more integral to our name. 

For companies belonging to the Whole Grains Council, the Oldways connection is an important benefit, because of synergies with other Oldways programs. For instance, each year for Whole Grain Sampling Day we offer to match WGC companies with supermarket dietitians for in-store sampling opportunities - something we can easily do because our Oldways Nutrition Exchange maintains a database of most of the nation's supermarket RDs. Healthy eating isn't just about whole grains, and Oldways programs offer opportunities for highlighting every part of a healthy diet. Check out all our Oldways programs here and contact Cynthia Harriman (cynthia@oldwayspt.org or 617-896-4820) if you'd like more information about any of our programs.

 
Best regards,

Cynthia Harriman
Director of Food and Nutrition Strategies
cynthia@oldwayspt.org

Kelly Toups, MLA, RD, LDN
Program Manager
kelly@oldwayspt.org

Harley Songin
Stamp Program Manager
harley@oldwayspt.org

... and from all of the Oldways and Whole Grains Council staff