Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

Health action group calls for salt levels to be reduced and for loaf labelling to be improved, especially by supermarket own brands

One in every four loaves of bread sold in the UK high street contain as much salt in every slice as a packet of crisps, according to research published.

The worst offenders are those perceived to be healthier options – brown loaves packed with seeds and mixed grains, and artisan breads from upmarket bakery chains.

The research was carried out by the health group Cash (Consensus Action on Salt & Health), which analysed 294 fresh and packaged loaves from supermarkets and their in-store bakeries, and from chain and independent shops. Researchers examined the salt content of 100g of bread – equivalent to two thick slices – and found huge variations.

More than a quarter of loaves (28%) contained as much salt per slice as a packet of crisps.

Cash said consumers were unwittingly eating too much salt, and were let down by the absence of nutritional labels on supermarkets’ in-store bread, which made it impossible for them to make healthier choices.

A brown pain de campagne loaf made by London bakery Paul was singled out as by far the saltiest, containing 2.83g of salt per 100g – a higher salt concentration than seawater.

Its white pain ancien and brown pain complet were the next highest in salt content of the bakery breads (1.85g and 1.43g of salt per 100g) while Le Pain Quotidien’s blanc de campagne was the fourth highest (1.41g).

A standard 34.5g packet of Walkers ready salted crisps contains 0.5g of salt.

The saltiest packaged bread was Cranks seeded farmhouse which, at 2.03g per 100g, had nearly four times more salt than the lowest – Marks & Spencer’s Simply More Eat Well healthiest white bread (0.58g per 100g).

The second worst packaged offender was Vogel’s original mixed grain (1.38g of salt per 100g) followed by Asda’s Chosen By You Baker’s Gold white farmhouse (1.2g salt) – the only white loaf in the top five.

A spokesman for Paul said its recipes were being changed immediately “to benefit from a reduction of 3g of salt per kg of flour without compromising on [the flavour of] fifth-generation French family recipes”.

Vogel’s said salt was essential to keep bread moist, inhibit mould and control fermentation and added that it would “continue to review the salt content in our bread without compromising our quality and the natural processes we use”.

Bread is now the largest contributor of salt to our diet, providing almost a fifth (18%) of our daily salt intake. But too much salt can cause high blood pressure, leading to potentially fatal strokes and heart disease.

Cash hailed the progress made by some manufacturers, with salt content in bread reduced by nearly a third over the past decade as a result of product reformulation.

Professor Graham MacGregor, chairman of Cash and professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, said: “With bread being the biggest contributor of salt to our diets, it is frankly outrageous that bread still contains so much salt.

“The Department of Health needs to ensure that all bread is clearly labelled and that all manufacturers reduce the salt of bread to less than the salt target of 1g per 100g.”

Andrew Opie, director of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Our members have made fantastic progress reducing the levels of salt in food in recent years.

“Reducing salt levels in speciality breads is much harder. Retailers and manufacturers have just announced they’re choosing to fund independent scientific research to try to find ways of meeting new salt-reduction targets for a range of products.”

Popular packaged breads with highest salt content (per 100g)

1 Cranks seeded farmhouse, 2.03g

2 Vogel’s original mixed grain, 1.38g

3 Asda Chosen By You Baker’s Gold white farmhouse, 1.2g

4 Marks & Spencer Eat Well multigrain bloomer with 30% grains, 1.15g

5 Morrisons thick sunflower and pumpkin loaf, 1.1g

Five loaves with lowest salt

1 Marks & Spencer Simply More Eat Well healthiest white bread, 0.58g

2 Tesco Stayfresh white sliced bread medium, 0.6g

3 Marks & Spencer Eat Well oaty bloomer, made with 30% oats, 0.65g

4 Marks & Spencer toasting white, 0.73g

5 Sainsbury’s medium wholemeal, 0.74g

Source: Guardian News

Bakery bread, salt, study

US-based Orlando Baking and biotech company Ganeden Biotec have launched what they claim to be the first probiotic bread product.

To date, most products containing traditional probiotic organisms such as lactobacillus, acidophilus and bifidobacteria have been in the chilled, short-life dairy category, but recently manufacturers have started added probiotics to dry goods.

A spokesperson for Ganeden Biotec said that customers are keen to consume probiotics in this form, adding to existing habits, rather than adding a new food group to their diet.

Datamonitor analyst Mike Hughes told this publication that given that probiotic groceries are more commonly found in the dairy sector, the introduction of a probiotic bread is a reflection of a growing market in the US and an opportunity to target the 52 per cent and 50 per cent of Americans who are interested in functional groceries, but currently do not buy products of this nature.

“If the probiotic bread is to prove successful (and the product is given a more nationwide rollout) it is crucial that the sensory credentials of the bread (i.e. freshness, taste) are not impacted by the introduction of beneficial bacteria in the formulation process, or that the product does not command a too premium price tag,” said Hughes.

The analyst said that degrees of price sensitivity and the credentials of probiotics in the bakery sector are yet to be tested.

Protective coating

Probiotics are living microorganisms, or good bacteria, which when administered in adequate amounts, can deliver health benefits to the consumer.

Previously the traditional probiotics couldn’t survive extreme temperatures, so baking or freezing foods containing such cultures was not possible. However, Ganeden Biotec claims that its new probiotic strain can be used in products such as muffins, breads and cereal bars.

GanedenBC30 is a spore-forming probiotic bacterium, meaning that inside the bacterial cell is a hardened structure, or spore, which is analogous to a seed.

This spore safeguards the cell’s genetic material from the heat and pressure of manufacturing processes, challenges of shelf-life and the acid and bile it is exposed to during transit to the digestive system.

Once it is inside the small intestine, the viable spore is then able to germinate and produce new vegetative cells or ‘good’ bacteria.

In contrast, traditional probiotic organisms such as lactobacillus, acidophilus and bifidobacteria are not able to form these protective spores, making them vulnerable to heat, pressure and acidity in the digestive system.

UK-based ingredients distributor Cornelius also recently made a deal with Ganeden Biotech to supply GanedenBC30 to the UK market.

Previous applications of the GanedenBC30 include adding the probiotics to pizza dough, in a collaboration with Ganeden Biotec and US based company NakedPizza in 2008, and Commercial Cookies Corp, a Toronto-based manufacturer of private label cookie announced, also in 2008, a partnership with Ganeden Biotech to produce probiotic-enhanced cookies.

The spokesperson said this is the first time the company has applied its probiotic strain GanedenBC30 to a bread product.

Developments

More and more companies are starting to branch out in their use of probiotics in foods other than traditional forms such as dairy.

Last April ingredients supplier Danisco signed a deal that will allow it to sell two probiotic strains developed by Fonterra to a wider food and drink audience.

Danisco said its customers will now be able to use the strains in dairy products, liquid and powdered beverages, dietary supplements, meats, cheeses, cereals, confectionery and straws.

Source:  Bakery and Snacks

Bakery bread, Ganeden Biotec, GanedenBC30, probiotics

An extension of the Panamore enzyme blend product range improves the freshness of breads and is particularly suited to low sugar and low fat recipes, claims developer DSM Food Specialties.

The ingredient supplier maintains that today’s consumers shop less frequently than ever before, stimulating demand for bread that has extended shelf life, with softness a key factor in breads’ perceived freshness.

Rossana Rodriguez, product manager baking enzymes at DSM Food Specialties told  that Panamore Soft, its new bread orientated enzyme, works extremely well in lean bread recipes and is particularly well suited to reduced sugar and fat formulations, as these bread varieties stale very quickly.

“Panamore Soft will therefore have the biggest impact in these types of applications,” she claims, adding that it delivers uniform results in all types of flour regardless of bread variety or processing method.

Containing a patent protected blend of enzymes, she said that DSM has harnessed its experience in the fields of amylases and lipolitic enzymes to produce a product that is “one step ahead of current options on the market”.

In tests, the composition of Panamore Soft produced enhanced initial softness, better sliceability and longer shelf life over time than maltogenic amylase, continued the supplier.

The ingredient, said Rodriguez, contains a starch degrading enzyme combined with lipolitic activity, which reduces the rate of amylopectine crystallisation whilst also keeping the gluten in the rubber state.

“This ensures that the bread crumb remains flexible and the desired level of resilience is achieved, resulting in a softer crumb and prolonged freshness,” added the product manager.

Rodriguez said the inclusion rate per unit is very much dependent on the application. “Positioned as a solution for softness that lasts, Panamore Soft is suited to all applications where extended shelf life is required, such as soft rolls and crumb rich breads, for example sandwich and tin loaves.”

Source: Bakery and Snacks

Bakery, Ingredients bread, enzymes, Panamore Soft, salt reduction

Defatted corn protein could be used for making gluten-free bread with a crumb structure and texture closer to that of wheat bread, according to chemists at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Developing palatable gluten-free breads has been a major challenge for bakers because gluten – the protein found in wheat, rye, barley and spelt – plays a crucial role in giving bread its chewy, elastic texture. Meanwhile, demand for gluten-free products has increased as more Americans are being diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder in which symptoms are triggered by gluten consumption.

An article published in the latest edition of Agricultural Research Magazine details how ARS chemists Scott Bean and Tilman Schober at the Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit in Manhattan, Kansas have been working on ways to replicate the texture of gluten-containing bread without the gluten. They said they have had some success using non-gluten-containing grains for pan breads, but for leavened breads, the dough tends to spread out too much.

They had previously found that using a corn protein called zein could produce a more wheat-like dough, but the resulting bread was still flatter than wheat bread and lacked dough strength. However, by removing some of its fat content, they found they could make a bread that more closely resembles wheat bread.

“We found that removing more of the fat from the protein’s surface allows the proteins to stick to each other much like wheat proteins do — leading to the elastic nature of wheat dough,” Bean said. “…Corn protein, in our view, is an intermediate step to achieving the Holy Grail of gluten-free breads — forming a wheat-like dough using non-wheat proteins, resulting in products with a fluffy, light texture.”

Bean and Schober said that sorghum may prove even more effective than defatted corn protein as a replacement for wheat in breads.

The research could lead to the development of more palatable gluten-free breads for the estimated 1 in 133 Americans with celiac disease – as well as for others with wheat allergy or gluten intolerance, they said.

Source: Agricultural Research Magazine

Bakery, Research bread, gluten-free, proteins

Boiled, roasted or dried, chestnuts have nourished entire generations. Now they’re a culinary delicacy.

If swallows announce the coming of spring and summer, then chestnuts are the heralds of autumn and winter, though roasted chestnut vendors continue to peddle their wares well into May and June. One, in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna, kept his brazier going through the hottest days of 2010. More than a seller of street snacks, he seemed like a walking ad for Sestriere or the glaciers of Livrio, an enticement to enjoy the last gasp of winter sports.

Chestnuts and chestnut trees have a tortuous history. Botanists recall the so-called Tree of One Hundred Horses, on Etna, 68 metres in circumference and 3000 years old. But there is also a fine specimen in Piancastagnaio, Tuscany, that towers to 22.3 metres. In Camugnano, in the Bologna Apennines, is a tree whose trunk has been made into a little osteria, obviously equipped with greater comfort than the colossus of Etna with its hundred horses. And it was under a spreading chestnut tree that Pope Pius Il Piccolomini dictated his papal bull.

It’s truly the tree of bread, as mountain dwellers have depended on its fruit for sustenance for centuries, whether boiled, roasted or dried (cooked slowly in water and called mosciarelle).

Chestnut flour is used in cakes (castagnaccio), flatbreads (pattona) and humble chestnut patties (mistocchine). Until the end of World War II, you could still see mistocchine being made under the porticoes in Bologna: a flat patty of chestnut meal moistened with a few drops of water and grilled on a hotplate, poetry for the palate but now lost in the shuffle of progress. Necci are like filled crepes, stacked one on top of the other to mask the first whiff of mould, thanks to the Pyrex dishes used to make them. Chestnuts were so precious among medieval populations (and even up until WW II) that townships where they were grown issued strict regulations about how they were to be harvested. The fruit had to be guaranteed first by the landowner and then by the gatherers in the same township. Last came the outsiders, whom we would call tourists today. Not a gram was to be wasted, and in 1360 the community of Barga, in upper Garfagnana, banned the export of flour, a restriction it imposed later for cereals.

Mario Adua, of ISTAT, calculates that there are roughly 1000 recipes using chestnut flour. It may not be possible to taste them all, as production has fallen from 8.3 thousand quintals in 1911 to 326 in 2008, though with large surges and drops from one year to the next. Growers hopeful of a slight recovery at the end of the last century were disappointed. But next winter, when you dig into a generous slice of Mont-Blanc, with its luscious base of chestnut puree, remember that the history of this fruit is linked to some of the most tormented pages of Italy’s past. In the late 1800s, when ink disease and the tannin industry threatened the fragile livelihood of Italy’s mountain folk, the inhabitants of Garfagnana abandoned their centuries-old fruit and made do selling crèche figurines on the streets, from city to city in far-off America. The writer Pascoli immortalised them: “Will you buy…from Chicago to Baltimore, / buy images…in Troy, Memphis, Atlanta, / in a voice that breaks your heart: / cheap?”.

Bakery bread, Chestnut flour, Chestnuts

Ginger enrichment could provide added health benefits to bread products without negatively effecting formulation, according to new research.

The new study, published in LWT – Food Science and Technology, suggests that enriching bread with three per cent ginger powder could boost its antioxidant content without having adverse effects on any functional or sensory properties.

“It is important to choose appropriate amount of ginger powder and processing parameters to obtain a healthy baked goods (high level of antioxidants) without promoting negative effects on the rheological properties of dough and also without changing the desirable physical and sensorial characteristics of the bread,” stated the researchers, led by Dr Federica Balestra from the University of Bologna, Italy.

Benefits

According to the researchers, when developing functional bakery products (like bread), it is important to develop a product with physiological effectiveness and consumer’s acceptance in terms of appearance, taste and texture.

Due to its potential health benefits, ginger has gained considerable attention as a botanical dietary supplement in both the U.S and Europe in recent years, especially for use in the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions.

Gingerols are a group of phenols found in ginger that are suggested to offer health benefits due to their antioxidant properties. However the pungency of dry, powdered ginger mainly results from shogaols, which are dehydrated forms of gingerols. Shogaols are also known for their anti-oxidant activity and are reported to possess anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities.

The new study aimed to evaluate the effects of varying quantities of ginger powder (0, 3, 4.5 and 6 per cent) on the rheological properties of wheat flour based dough and bread. In addition, the researchers noted the possibility “to obtain an antioxidant-enriched final product with good physico-chemical and sensorial properties was studied,”

Enrichment

The researchers observed the highest phenolic content was with bread enriched with six per cent ginger powder, however they reported that such samples showed the worst rheological properties, adding that the sample had the lowest value of overall acceptability from sensory analysis.

Among the studied samples, bread with three per cent ginger powder showed good rheological characteristics and doubled antioxidant content compared to the control bread and the highest sensorial acceptability.

Further work

Dr. Balestra and colleagues claimed that ginger powder could be regarded as a potential health-promoting functional ingredient. Noting that, in the correct amounts, its addition into functional bakery products has very little effect on textural, functional, or sensory properties.

They added that further studies are needed to verify ginger enriched breads health giving-properties in vivo, after ingestion and full digestion, and stated that “further and deep investigations are currently in progress in our laboratory in order to examine the overall quality characteristics of a bread obtained with a ginger powder quantity between 3 and 4.5 per cent.”

Source: LWT – Food Science and Technology

Bakery bread, functional bakery products, ginger

Honey powder could potentially be used as a dough improver, and may also act as a sugar replacer in bread, according to new research from China.

The authors of the study, published in the journal Food Research International, said that the addition of honey powder at a level of 5 to 10 per cent improved the baking quality by retarding staling and increasing shelf life.

“Because fructose in honey powder tends to absorb more moisture than sugar, the incorporation of honey powder resulted in higher retention of moisture in bread crumbs, thereby retardating staling and extending the shelf life,” they found.

The researchers also concluded that the ingredient had a desirable effect on the colour development of crust and crumb. “When honey powder was incorporated into the bread, the products had higher volume, softer crumb, and yellower colour,” found the authors, based at Jiangnan University.

The study

Bread samples were prepared using a straight dough method with slight modification.

The authors said the control consisted of 500 g flour, 240 g water, 90 g sugar, 40 g butter oil substitute, 20 g milk powder, 6 g dry baker’s yeast, 6 g bread improver 5 g fine salt, and one egg (total about 50 g).

For the fifteen bread samples containing honey powder, the dough formulation was identical with that of the control bread except for the fact that the sugar was replaced by the honey.

The authors explained that flour, fine sugar, honey powder, milk powder were uniformly mixed in a stirrer using a dough hook, followed by the addition of yeast and bread improver. The dough was prepared in the stirrer for 1 min at 40 rpm, and 10 minutes at 70 rpm after egg and water were added. Final dough temperature was 28 °C.

The dough was rested in bulk for 10 min, divided into pieces of 100 g, rounded by hand (ball shape), and submitted to an extra fermentation period of 10 minutes.

The dough was then kneaded, put in well-greased pans, proofed at 37 °C and 85 per cent relative humidity for 2 hours and baked in an electric oven set at upper temperature 170 °C and down temperature 220 °C for 20 minutes. The bread was removed from the pans and cooled at 25 °C for 1 hour before testing.

Results

After cooling and before storage, there was no obvious difference in crumb hardness between honey and the control bread samples. However, the sugar bread became harder than the honey breads after storage, said the China based team.

The researchers found that honey breads had lower hardness, adhesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness, along with higher springiness and cohesiveness than the control bread after one day of storage.

The increased bread softness as the honey powder content increased may be attributed to the fructose present in honey was more hygroscopic than sugar, added the authors.

“The positive effect of honey powder on yeast activity and gas production during fermentation, in combination with the softening effect promoted by fructose on the gluten proteins led to increase in volume of loaves and longer shelf life.

It appeared that honey powder had a softening effect on crumb hardness,” noted the researchers.

The team also determined that high levels of honey powder – over 10 per cent – could weaken the intension of dough and could cause stickiness problems during kneading, making the dough difficult to work.

Thus, they recommend honey power be added to bread formulation at levels of between 5 to 10 per cent to ensure good sensory characteristics.

Source: Food Research International

Bakery, Research baking, bread, dough improver, honey powder, sugar replacer

Obesity is becoming a worldwide problem with Germany and Austria facing growing problems as statistics show that Germans spend 105 minutes a day eating. Guest writer Dr Andreas Vollmar, head of development at backaldrin, looks into the issue.

When people of normal weight become a minority of the population, it is time to take action, though it is hard to know exactly what to do.

However, it is easy to explain what bread and wholegrain bread can contribute, namely dietary fibre, optimally 30 grams per day.

According to a recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study, Germans spend 105 minutes a day eating.

The country ranks in the upper mid-range in an international comparison.

In contrast, the French take 135 minutes each day to eat, whereas Mexicans and Canadians only a good hour.

In terms of nutrition physiology, experts have their doubts as to whether the food which is served has much value.

A closer look at current nutrition reports for Austrian and Germany concludes that the body mass index of people in both countries is usually beyond the level of 25.

“The increase in obesity and adiposity for men and women of all age groups is very worrisome”, says Ibrahim Elmadfa, Professor at the Institute of Nutritional Sciences of the University of Vienna and publisher of the study, summarizing the results for Austria.

His German colleague, Helmut Heseker, vice president of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) and professor at the University of Paderbon, agrees.

“Men and women of normal weight in Germany who are over 35 and 55 respectively are now outnumbered by their overweight counterparts.

“The conclusion to be drawn by the increase in the number of adults afflicted with pre-adiposity and adiposity is that these conditions are the inevitable consequences of overnutrition and a lack of exercise”, Heseker explains.

Normal-weight minority

Very small children are already overweight. Almost every fifth pupil in Austria between the ages of 6 and 15 is overweight. In Germany, about 15 per cent of the people in the age group from three to 17 are overweight or obese.

In Austria, 42 per cent of the 18 to 65 year old are overweight, 11 per cent with adiposity.

Germany is even worse off.

The consequences of excess weight on people’s health are well known: cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or diseases of the muscular and skeletal systems.

Having excess weight and being obese are not only risk factors for individuals, but have far-reaching social and economic consequences for the health care system.

The world Health Organisation (WHO) already speaks of a “global adiposity epidemic”.

According to estimates made by the WHO, about 1.6 billion people 15 or older were overweight around the world in the year 2005.

Health is important

Knowing and doing are two completely different things with regards to eating, as we well know from other situations. This has been conclusively shown by a recent study. The market research institute, Dialego, interviewed 1,000 people in Germany in April 2009 concerning the topic of “nutrition” and 71 per cent of the respondents said that healthy nutrition is very important to them but only a third of them rated their own eating habits as healthy.

In economically difficult times, many people are once again attaching greater importance to their health, as another survey concludes, with 85 per cent of 1,000 people taking part in a survy implemented by the Austrian Market Institute in March said they are wondering “what one can do for one´s own health”,

The nutrition reports in Austria and Germany are appearing at just the right time. They show precisely what is being done wrong, and what steps consumers can take to improve their nutrition in line with the slogan “The most important thing is to be healthy”.

Although an increasing number of people are overweight, “the intake of nutritional energy is below the reference values for all population groups”, according to Elmadfa in commenting on the results of the Austrian Nutrition Report.

On average, people do not usually exceed the recommended maximum reference value for their daily energy nedds. This amounts to 2,300 kcal for adult women and 2,900 kcal for adult men.

Actually, this seems to be good news, except for the fact that there are two big “buts”. First, “the reference values apply to people with a medium level of physical activity, which is not reached on average”. To put things bluntly, we do not get enough exercise. And second, we do not attain the right energy mix.

“Too much fat” is the conclusion of nutritional experts. The amount of fat consumed everyday by children is quite close to the upper limit but still acceptable. However, other people consume too much fat, which now accounts for more than 35 per cent of our total energy requirements.

According to DGE and the Austrian Nutrition Society (ÖGE), this figure should not exceed 25 – 30 per cent. Unsaturated fats are preferred. Here there is still a lot of catching up to do.

“The ideal thing would be to reduce the consumption of fat while using more high quality vegetables oils”, Elmada says in commenting on what people should do. “Being overweight is the body’s reaction to a chronically positive energy balance”, Heseker adds.

Dietary fibre hope

Experts recommend that proteins comprise 10-15 per cent of the total nutritional energy consumed by people.

“On average, this figure was achieved if not surpassed by all age groups”, Elmadfa states.

“The high intake of fat and protein is to the detriment of carbohydrates, which do not supply the recommended 55 per cent of total energy of any age group. From today’s perspecrive, people should from foods rich in starch and dietary fiber, such as grains, grain products, if possible wholegrain, as well as vegetables, fruit, legumes and potatoes, according to DGE.

“Although people are eating greater quantities of bread, they are only consuming about 120 grams per day, significantly below the recommended level of 200-300 grams daily”, the researcher says.

“In particularly, the share of wholegrain products in the group of the most important suppliers of nutrients and dietary fibres is still much too low, at only 16 grams per day”.

In Germany, the changed eating habits have also supposedly led to the reduced intake of polysaccharides and dietary fibre. Germans are eating more and more grain products, but fewer foodstuffs made of rye and potatoes. Elmadfa and Heseker agree and dietary fibers are being consumed.

Full-spedd ahead with wholegrain products

Baking products as suitable suppliers of dietary fibre are more in demand than ever before, naturally wholegrain products in particular. Two hundred 300 grams daily are recommended, or the equivalent of four-six slices, ÖGE and DGE agree.

Wholegrain products should be consumed everyday as they are rich in vitamins and minerals, but also on account of their dietary fibre, which is now recognized today as an important part of healthy nutrition. Dietary fibres ensure orderly digestion and a “good feeling in one’s stomach”.

“The Kornspitz, Europe’s top brand name roll, is an especially valuable food, boasting 7 per cent dietary fibre. The Kornspitz and its richness in B vitamins, minerals and trace elements, enjoyed 4.5 million times a day, ranks among Austria’s most successful brand-name organic products”, says backaldrin, Austria’s leading producer of baking products.

Moreover, increasing the consumption of dietary fibres, i.e. the recommended amount of 30 grams/day, “probably” reduces the risk of tumours of the large intestine and rectal tumours, as DGE´s German Nutrition Report concludes.

“The word “probably” refers to the close connection between nutritional factors and the risk of cancer, and should be used as a reference point for people to reorient their own eating habits”.

A simple recipe for health could be to “eat more bread”.

Exploit consumer goodwill

A recent study on the topic of “bread and health” has shown that there is a broad-based consensus among consumers that bread in general and wholegrain bread in particular are good suppliers of dietary fiber.

In the aforementioned Dialego survey, 80 per cent of those interviewed say wholegrain products help to ensure a healthy and balanced diet.

CMA Market Research concluded that wholegrain bread now comprises 28 per cent of the bread named by consumers, which puts this group at the top of the “bread hit list”.

Close to half the respondents say that health reasons are relevant for their choice of bread.

A whole range of measures is required to sustainably change eating habits and get the problems of excess weight and adiposity under control.

“Nutritional experts around the world agree that becoming overweight can only be prevented by a balanced, volume-rich and low calorie diet, as well as sufficient physical exercise,” the DGE Nutrition Report adds, pointing out the direction we have to go in.

Health bread, eating habits, obesity

Raisio PLC, a food and functional food ingredients provider, has partnered with Romanian bakery company Doprogea Grup to launch a cholesterol-lowering bread under the Benecol brand. According to Raisio, the bread will be the first cholesterol-lowering food product launched in Romania.

“The launch in Romania will increase the awareness and visibility of the Benecol brand in Eastern Europe,” Raisio said. “Raisio’s strength is in the ability to adjust, together with its partners, to local inhabitants’ purchasing behavior and in launching Benecol products suitably applied to the markets in question. The Benecol bread on the Romanian market is a good example. Raisio will continue the preparation work with its local partners to launch new products on new markets.”

Benecol, whose active ingredients are plant stanol esters, is a global trademark owned by Raisio. Plant stanol esters are one of the few ingredients to have received approval from the European Union to be used as a health claim.

In a 4 May trading update, the company said net sales of Benecol in the January-March period reached €13 million, up 12% from the first quarter of last year. Raisio attributed the sales gains to volume growth in current markets and launches in new markets. Specifically, the company cited solid sales growth of Benecol products in Spain, Greece and Belgium, while strong growth in Poland and Great Britain evened out.

Thailand and Indonesia are fairly new markets, Raisio said, and as such sales of Benecol products in those countries have developed well considering the time needed for the launching and creating the awareness of products and brand.

Bakery Benecol, bread, Cholesterol, Romania

Several major food companies in Australia, including George Weston Foods, Goodman Fielder Baking and Cereal Partners Worldwide, have agreed to reduce the amount of salt in their bread and breakfast cereals as part of a collaborative effort with the government called the Food and Health Dialogue.

Mark Butler, the parliamentary secretary for health in Australia, said George Weston Foods, Goodman Fielder Baking, Allied Mills, Cripps Nubake, Woolworths, Coles and ALDI were among the manufacturers and retailers who have agreed to reduce sodium across bread products to 400 mg per 100 g by the end of 2013. Meanwhile, Kellogg Co., Sanitarium, Cereal Partners Worldwide, Woolworths, Coles and ALDI were among those who agreed to reduce the sodium content of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals by 15% over four years.

In total, the manufacturers and retailers who have agreed to take part in the initiative represent more than 80% of the market share for bread products and approximately 60% of the market share for R-T-E cereal in Australia.

“Agreed targets give industry a level playing field and certainty on expectations,” Mr. Butler said. “Bread and breakfast cereals are the first of several food categories being prioritized by the Food and Health Dialogue to improve Australian diets.”

Bakery, Health australia, bread, reduce, salt