Avoiding being left in the dust of the new health wave, as propelled by Mrs. Obama's meeting with major food markets in May,
Kraft announced Monday that it will be pumping up its whole grain content in more than 100 of its products over the next three years.
This move comes after four years of development, the company says, in an effort to increase the use of whole grain without sacrificing the taste consumers have come to know. Despite industry skepticism, Kraft and other major food companies, including
ConAgra and
Del Monte, recently claimed they've made reductions in sodium; others, in sugar. Last June,
Kellogg claimed it would increase fiber by the end of 2010 and last week introduced a line of FiberPlus cereals.
The term "whole grain" signifies an unadulterated product of wheat, something that became less common as major food companies realized that stripping the grain's kernel of its bran, endosperm and germ (all of its nutritional fiber, iron and vitamin content) would produce a finer texture and increase shelf life.