September/
October 1998
News from the
Library
Back
Prairie Grains is the
official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain
Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., and the
Minnesota Barley
Growers Association.
The WFC's 1998/99 "Setting the Record Straight" program hit the ground running on July 1. Target audiences for the greater grains consumption message this fiscal year include the media, opinion leaders (health and nutrition leaders, policymakers, fitness instructors) and retail markets. Planned activities include: forming a coalition to debunk nutrition myths, developing a video to dispel grain food misconceptions, conducting a media tour, commissioning a consumer survey, holding a grains symposium distributing direct mail kits, conducting briefings with policymakers and communicating via the WFC web site, www.wheatfoods.org, which is visited by about 34,500 people daily. The 1997/98 program was measured a success: the WFC promotion strategy of providing grains-based news and information to the media, instead of advertising, reached a circulation audience of more than 197 million and $2.9 million in ad equivalency.
MN Producer installed as WFC secretary/treasurer
This summer, Art Brandli, Warroad, MN, assumed the office of secretary/treasurer of the Wheat Foods Council, which promotes increased consumption of grain-based foods through nutrition, education, and promotional programs. WFC members include millers, bakers, cereal, cracker, tortilla and pasta manufacturers, and producer groups including the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council and the wheat commissions in North and South Dakota. Brandli notes that at the organization's summer board meeting, the WFC strategic plan is being revised: since the WFC is trying to increase wheat utilization throughout the world, the word "domestic" has been removed from its mission statement.
Food Guide Pyramid to be placed on food stamps
Thanks to a request from the WFC, The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be placing the Food Guide Pyramid on $2 denomination food stamps beginning in October. The Pyramid emphasizes grains as the base for nutrition, with 6 to 11 servings recommended daily. In addition, five health messages from the Dietary Guidelines Alliances will be placed on various denominations of food stamps this fall.
Fastest growing global bread product: wheat flour tortillas
Tortillas made from wheat flour are the fastest growing bread products in the world and the fastest growing bakery product in the US, says Tortilla Industry Association executive, Irwin Steinberg.
Although corn tortillas are still the tortilla of choice in most of Mexico, the flour tortilla is on the rise even in this birthplace of tortilla culture. Mexico consumes more tortillas than any other country in the world.
Currently the government of Mexico subsidizes corn tortillas. Steinberg said that there are indications that the corn tortilla subsidy could be lifted by the first of the year and that Mexico may move to more of a food-stamp type of support system for low income citizens. Steinberg expects that the price of corn tortillas will rise with the lifting of the subsidy, which will mean that flour tortillas will no longer be at a price disadvantage to corn and should mean an increase in flour tortilla demand, to be met in part by US wheat producers.
Flour tortilla demand is increasing in the US as well. In the US in 1997, 70 billion tortillas were consumed, of which 45 billion were flour tortillas. Flour tortillas are the overwhelming choice in non-Hispanic markets, which account for about 60% of tortilla product consumption.
The US tortilla market reported nearly 25% growth during the last two years, according to a recent survey by the Tortilla Association. One big growth element has been the addition of "tortilla wraps" by many fast food chains. Tortilla producers project an 18 percent growth rate in sales of tortillas over the coming year, and a growth rate of 54 percent during the next five years.
In a special project with the WFC and the Tortilla Industry Association, the Kansas Wheat Commission is supporting a nutrition information project targeted at hispanic consumers in the U.S. southwest as well as consumers in Central and South America, according to David Frey, administrator of the KWC.
Study shows health benefits from breakfast cereal
A study from the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas, found that people who frequently eat cereal for breakfast fare better nutritionally than people who don't eat breakfast or who eat foods other than cereal, according to a report by IDEA Health & Fitness.
Study participants who were regular cereal eaters received the following benefits over the course of a day: higher fiber intake, a bigger percentage of food from carbohydrates, lower consumption of dietary cholesterol and a lower proportion of calories from total fat.
Researchers also discovered that breakfast meal patterns were associated with cardiovascular risk factors, especially among men. Males who regularly ate cereal had lower total cholesterol levels than participants who skipped breakfast. n