Whole Grain White Bread Labeling Confusion

Photo by:  Lali Masriera.

As some of my readers know, my husband is the gatekeeper in our household. What that means is that I provide him with a list of items I would like to eat this week and he does the grocery shopping. He likes to walk up and down every aisle. Grocery shopping takes at least 40 minutes when I go with him. By the time we get home, I am cranky and ready to tear my hair out. I know how kids feel sometimes when I see them sitting in that shopping cart with that dazed, bored look. When I grocery shop alone, I usually can be in and out within 20 minutes with my list.

I always ask him to pick up whole wheat bread. A few weeks ago, he picked up Sara Lee’s 100% Whole Grain White bread. Apparently my husband thinks that this bread is just as healthy as whole wheat bread because it had the “whole grain” label.

Whole Grain White Bread Labeling Confusion

My husband often falls for healthy sounding labels such as “multi-grain,” “7 gains,” “100% wheat,” and “cracked wheat” when he shops for bread. When the bread is on sale and has a healthy label, it makes it into the shopping cart.

I have no problem with people making the conscious choice to feed their families white bread. I just have a problem with food companies overselling their white bread as “whole grain” bread.

In a settlement agreement over this whole grain white bread labeling, Sara Lee will change its labeling to say 30% whole grain. That is a huge labeling difference! You cannot just round up 30% to 100%.

That is like saying a Kudos Granola Bar is a meal replacement bar (Kudos granola bars are another way for food companies to sell you a candy bar).

It is interesting to note that they changed their serving size to 2 slices in order to make the claim that there is 8g of whole grain and 3g of fiber per serving. You can typically get that with 1 slice of whole wheat bread.

How do you know if the white bread you are holding is masquerading as whole wheat bread?

The ingredients are labeled from the highest content to lowest content. If the first ingredient has the words “enriched bleached flour,” then that loaf you are holding is white bread. Whole grain showed up as the 3^rd ingredient for that loaf of Sara Lee bread my husband brought.

It is great to provide options for consumers, but tell it as it is! White bread should not be masquerading as whole grain bread and candy bars should not be called granola bar. And you wonder why everyone is so confuse about what to eat.

Until next time and thanks for stopping by Small Steps to Health.

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Tagged as: food marketing, supermarket