WGC banner 2015
In This Issue
2016 WGC Preview
Foodservice Committee
Sprouted Grain Standards
Harley's Tip: Always Double-check!
Cascadia Grains Conference
Oldways Finding Common Ground
Quick Links



An Oldways Family Program
Oldways is a nonprofit food and nutrition education organization, inspiring good health 
through cultural food traditions and lifestyles.
October 2015

Dear Whole Grains Council members,

Whole Grains Month was a rousing success this year, as evidenced by the great creative entries we received for our "Share the Goodness of Whole Grains" Instagram contest. Thanks again to WGC member companies that donated prizes, including a $250 gift card from King Arthur Flour and cases of food for the Atlanta Community Food Bank in Georgia from nine WGC companies, all featured on our website for their donations. Continue to watch this newsletter monthly for ways to give extra visibility to your company's products!

Preview of 2016 Whole Grains Council Plans
Since many of you are now mapping out your 2016 campaigns and budgets, we'd like to share an overview of our three major promotions for the coming year. They include:

Whole Grain Sampling Day / March 30, 2016
We've moved our annual Whole Grain Sampling Day celebration to the last week in March to provide extra synergies with Nutrition Month in March. Visit the Sampling Day page on our site for inspiration about how you can be a Sampling Day Partner. Anything goes as a partner activity, as long as it helps more people try more whole grains. In past years, companies have given away samples at supermarkets, offered coupons on Facebook, featured specials in their online stores, and so much more. Contact Kelly Toups (kelly@oldwayspt.org or 617-896-4884) for ideas on what you can do.

Whole Grains Month / September 2016
As always, September will be Whole Grains Month. Plan now to time a marketing campaign - anything from a product launch to a Facebook giveaway - for September. It's a great way to use the Whole Grains Month "hook" for increased marketing impact. Contact Harley Songin to brainstorm (harley@oldwayspt.org or 617-896-4832).

Whole Grains Away from Home / Autumn 2016
Our next Whole Grains Council conference, scheduled for October or November 2016, will be all about ways to increase the whole grains that people eat away from home, where consumption is still lagging hugely. Sponsorships range from $5,000 to $50,000, as explained here. One feature will be a showcase for sponsoring companies to highlight their resources that support foodservice operators in developing new products. Contact Cynthia Harriman to learn more (cynthia@oldwayspt.org or 617-896-4820).

Foodservice Advisory Committee
Is the foodservice market important to your business? As we plan our Whole Grains Away From Home conference for autumn 2016 (see above), we want your input to make this conference as dynamic and useful as possible. We've posted some key questions on our website, and we invite interested companies to respond by email or phone, whichever is easier. Check out the details here.

Sprouted Grains Working Group Update
Our Sprouted Grains Working Group - currently with 30 participants from 19 companies - is still exploring standards and definitions of sprouted grains. You can learn more about this project on our website. If you have expertise in sprouted grains that you can offer to this project, we invite you to get involved by contacting one of our subcommittee chairs (Cynthia, Kelly, or Crista) as indicated on the Sprouted Grains Working Group page.
 
Harley's Tip: Double-Check Before You Submit

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

October Tip: Always double-check the information on all Product Registration Forms (PRFs) before submitting them. The PRF is the basis for what the public will see when searching our database for your products, and it's what we use to review your product. Once you hit submit on the bottom of the online form, you won't be able to make edits to it unless you email them to us. Make sure to double-check what you've entered for accuracy - especially the gram amounts and product title - before hitting submit, to avoid delays in our approval process.

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.

Cascadia Grains Conference January 8-9, 2016
Our friends at Washington State University are planning an interesting conference in Olympia, Wash. on Saturday, January 9. The Saturday event will include workshops and classes on grain growing, processing, brewing and distilling, animal feed, milling, and baking. Friday, January 8 will feature add-on, half-day field trips that showcase the Cascadia grain-shed in action - hands-on baking and cooking classes, brewery tours, and more.
Visit the Cascadia Grains website for details.

What Do Nutrition Experts Actually Agree On?
Can proponents of the Paleo diet find common ground with vegans? Is butter back, or should we still curtail saturated fat? Public perception is that nutrition advice changes daily, leaving many people asking, "Can't those experts agree on anything?"

Oldways realized there was only one way to answer that question: Gather some of the world's top nutrition science experts in one room and keep them together until they reach consensus on what we really know about eating well. That's the idea behind our Finding Common Ground conference on November 17 and 18, 2015 in Boston. We'll tell you all about the results in our December WGC member newsletter. Stay informed about the conference by visiting our website or by using the tag #OldwaysCommonGround on Twitter.
Contact Cynthia with any questions.
 
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