FDA Publishes Whole-Grain Draft Guidance

FDA announced today that it has released a draft guidance document that defines what constitutes a "whole grain" and offers advice to manufacturers formulating whole-grain products. This move comes in the wake of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommends that that people derive one-half of their daily total grain intake from whole grains.

In today's teleconference briefing, Barbara Schneeman, Ph.D., director, Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling and Dietary Supplements, noted that the increased use of "whole grain" on food labels could lead to consumer confusion. Use of the term on labels has dramatically increased since the release of the Guidelines.

Apart from rulings on whole-grain health claims on labels, FDA has not yet set official regulations for required levels of whole grains per serving of a given food if that food includes the term "whole grain" on its packaging. Individual manufacturers and some industry associations, such as the Whole Grains Council, currently use their own standards to define different levels of a product's level of included whole grains, such as the Council's stamps that tout "Good Source" of whole grains, "Excellent Source" of whole grains or "100% Whole Grain/Excellent Source" of whole grains on food labels.

The FDA document is attempting to alleviate some of the confusion regarding whole grains. One clarification in the document is that legumes (soybeans), oilseeds (sunflower seeds) and roots (arrowroot) are not whole grains. The draft also recommends that manufacturers only use "whole grain" on pizza products when the crust is made entirely from whole-grain flours.

FDA will field comments and suggestions for 60 days. At that point, it will likely finalize the document. For more information, see http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2006/NEW01317.html.