Whole Grain Nutrition

It's not easy to distinguish between the comparative values of different edible grains or products branded multi-grain that are cracked, flaked, easy-cook and more. any cereal grain is a whole grain if it hasn't had any of its component parts, such as its outer bran layer, removed or processed away. A whole grain may have been flaked, rolled, cracked, ground or turned into a quick-cook grain, but it's still "whole" so long as it is entire.

To help in untangling this information, a black and gold stamp was designed by the Whole Grains Council and the Oldways Preservation Trust identifying a product as either a "Good Source" -- that is, offering a half serving of whole grains, or an "Excellent Source," meaning a full serving of whole grains. A "100 Percent Excellent Source" stamp signified a full serving of whole grains without any refined grains included.

The Food and Drug Administration doesn't object to a company's legitimate claims as to its product's specific whole grains content, it isn't ready to provide a standard definition of what constitutes an "excellent" or "good" source of whole grains. (This is similar to what exactly constituted "light" on a food label - light colored or lighter in calories and fat.) These were terms the FDA said may be applied to specific nutrients but not to whole grains.


The FDA indicates it is working with the USDA to ensure consistency on whole grain policies, final guidance may not be complete before the end of the fiscal year. It launched a 60-day comment period for further consideration of consumer education programs aimed at helping consumers easily identify genuine whole grain products. And it did sanction the definition developed by the Whole Grains Council, Oldways and the American Association of Cereal Chemists of which grains could be classified as whole grains.