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WGC July 2017 Member Newsletter
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Dear Oldways Whole Grains Council members,
Do you have locally grown grains available at your farmers' market? Does your food company purchase heritage grains grown on local farms? We want to know about it! We're creating an online network to support the revival and growth of local grain economies all over the United States, and we're starting by taking stock of the farmers, millers and maltsters out there who are growing and processing local, heritage grains.
If you know of a farm, mill, or malt house that's working with locally grown grains, please email Caroline at
[email protected] with the details. For WGC members outside the US: We'll include your listings, too, in a special section for worldwide grains.
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Donate Grains for a Good Cause for Our September Whole Grains Month Event!
Have you signed up to donate product to our September Whole Grains Month charity event? Our theme this year is
Good Grains for a Good Cause and starting August 15, we'll be asking consumers to nominate their favorite food-based charities for a chance to win cases and cases of whole grain product donated by our members! We believe whole grains should be available to everyone, regardless of income.
If you're interested in getting your company involved (and getting extra publicity and social media attention in September as we promote the month-long event) email Caroline Sluyter to sign up (
[email protected]). All donations must be products registered and approved to use the Whole Grain Stamp, minimum donation one case (no maximum!). There is no need to ship your donation anywhere yet -- we'll provide the address of the winning charity at the end of Whole Grains Month and you can ship directly to the winner then.
A huge thank you to Back to Nature, Barbara's Bakery, Bob's Red Mill, Catallia Mexican Foods, Dr. Kracker, Freekehlicious, InHarvest, Kellogg's, Lundberg Family Farms, Mary's Gone Crackers, Ozery Bakery, and Popsalot who have already signed up to contribute a total of 41 cases of whole grain foods for this good cause! Help us add
your company to this list.
If your company is based outside the US, or you'd like some ideas for how you might contribute to the cause individually, check out our
list of ideas for how you can pitch in -- and feel free to add your own!
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Save the Date: Nov. 4-6, 2018 for Our Next WGC Conference in Seattle
Mark your calendars today! We've booked our next WGC conference at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel in Washington for Sunday, November 4 - Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Our semi-annual conferences bring together food manufacturers, scientists, chefs, foodservice operators, health professionals, and media representatives to get the latest crucial health, marketing, and scientific updates about whole grains and share three days of presentations, demonstrations, and networking opportunities.
We'll be posting program and speaker details toward the end of this year but wanted you to know the dates now. As you're finalizing your 2018 marketing budget, make sure you plan to take part in this conference -- and consider maximizing your company's visibility by becoming a sponsor at this event.
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Attend the International Whole Grain Summit in Vienna, Austria
To tide you over until the next WGC conference, you might consider joining WGC staff as they participate in an
International Whole Grain Summit on the future of whole grains, to be held in Vienna from November 13-15, 2017. The early bird discount on registration ends July 31st, so
sign up soon if you're planning to attend -- we hope to see you there!
Healthgrain Forum -- a longtime WGC affiliate organization and one of the organizers of the Vienna Summit -- just published their long-awaited definition of a whole grain food that you may want to see. You can read the press release and download their paper, published in
Advances in Nutrition.
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Caroline's Tip: Stamp Use on Mixed Packs with Flavors that Vary in Whole Grain Amounts
Mixed-pack products that include multiple types/flavors of a product (e.g. oatmeal packets or granola bars) often have a different amount of whole grain in each flavor. With these products, you have two options when it comes to Whole Grain Stamp use:
1. If your packaging shows all the flavors with their individual NFPs and Ingredient Lists, you can include a different Stamp image with each associated panel of nutritional and ingredient information (as shown in the example below), as long as consumers can easily identify which Stamp goes with which flavor. In this case, you will register each flavor separately in our database so that we can approve each one for its appropriate Stamp.
2. You can choose the lowest gram amount and qualifying Stamp type represented in the pack and use that one Stamp on your packaging. For example, if:
- One flavor qualifies for the 20g 100% Stamp,
- One qualifies for the 18g 100% Stamp,
- And one qualifies for the 21g 50%+ Stamp,
You would use the 18g 50%+ Stamp on this product since this is the lowest valued Stamp type and gram amount that any of your flavors qualify to use.
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Stop by the Oldways Cheese Coalition's Cheese Block Party on July 26th
The Cheese Coalition, one of the other programs here at Oldways, is partnering with Cheese+Provisions to host a
Cheese Block Party in Denver, CO on July 26th from 1pm-4pm. If you're in the area, we hope you'll stop by and take the opportunity to talk with local cheesemakers, taste their cheese, and enjoy music, beer and wine -- all for free!
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Caroline Sluyter
Stamp Program Manager
Cynthia Harriman
Director of Food and Nutrition Strategies
... and from all of the Oldways and Whole Grains Council staff
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Oldways is a nonprofit food and nutrition education organization inspiring good health through cultural food traditions and lifestyles. The Oldways Whole Grains Council is only one of our many successful programs. Check out our website to learn more.
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