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Wholegrain diets make fat cat manufacturers
The growing awareness that eating more whole grains can provide important health benefits has led to many new products on supermarket shelves and these efforts are paying off. According to ACNielsen Label Trends, dollar sales of several wholegrain categories have made huge increases in the combined food/drug/mass merchandiser channels (excluding Wal-Mart) for the 52 weeks ending June 18, 2005.
The bread and baked goods category increased 18.3% to $1.1 billion and crackers rose 10.2% to $330 million. In smaller volume categories, pasta went up 34.1% to $54 million and frozen prepared foods skyrocketed 76.4% to $60 million.
According to ACNielsen LabelTrends, there were 660 new wholegrain UPCs launched in the 52 weeks ending June 18, 2005, and 678 introduced the prior 52-week period.
Some notable new products include all of the breakfast cereals from General Mills; a wholegrain line of croutons, frozen breads and crackers from Pepperidge Farm; Lean Cuisine's Spa Cuisine Classics, a line of frozen meals with 100% wholegrain rice or pasta; wholegrain white bread from Sara Lee and Interstate Bakery Corp., the maker of Wonder Bread.
The trend to eating more whole grains got a boost this past January from the 2005 Dietary Guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which recommend consuming at least three servings of whole grains daily. The effect on sales was immediate.
According to ACNielsen data, sales of key wholegrain categories in the first quarter of 2005 increased noticeably compared to the previous quarter: frozen wholegrain prepared foods were up 168%; wholegrain pasta, +27.4%; wholegrain cereal, +8.3%; and wholegrain bread and baked foods, +7.4%.
Look for the grocery industry to step up its promotion of the health benefits of wholegrains. Manufacturers are boldly listing 'wholegrain' across their food packaging as well as advertising these new products aggressively.
