Whole-wheat products full of corn? Not always!

The month of December is almost upon us again. To show the best you at Christmas dinner or at an old and new party, try to make healthier choices. For example, you choose to eat less meat and replace rusk with the wholemeal variety. What appears? The whole-wheat rusk in your basket does not consist entirely of whole-wheat flour, but also contains other wheat flour. This may make your rusk less healthy than you thought.

Driven by Foodwatch, the chairman of the Advertising Code Committee has criticised a dozen producers of 'wholemeal' products. All products, ranging from rusks and knäckebröd to croutons and noodles, contain explicit references to the 'whole grain' character of the products. And although the packaging suggests that the product is made entirely of wholemeal flour, the reality was that the cereal component was not made entirely of wholemeal flour.

The chairman considered that for many products the expectation was further reinforced by other elements on the packaging. Additions such as 'dark [wholemeal]', 'rich in fibres' and 'nice and natural' give the consumer the impression that it is dealing with a product that is made completely with wholemeal. In all cases, there was a lack of nuance with regard to the express claim of wholegrain wheat on the front of the building. Even the list of ingredients on the back of the packaging could not save the producers. The list of ingredients indicating the exact percentage of wholemeal flour could not eliminate the misleading impression of the front of the packaging.

Although the Chairman concluded that all products were misleading, all producers escaped uninjured. Each of them declared that they would take the concerned product off the shelves or reformulate it with 100% wholemeal flour. For this reason, the chairman has omitted a recommendation not to advertise in this way anymore.

Lisanne Steenbergen