Americans Flipping for Whole Grains as New Ultragrain Flour From Healthy Choice Begins Hitting Store Shelves This Summer

10/05/06 Whether it's in pancakes, pizza, pasta or PB&Js, Americans are flipping for whole grains! This summer ConAgra Foods is bringing together two brands known for innovation - Healthy Choice(R), for two decades a pioneer in great-tasting, good-for-you foods, and Ultragrain(R), the revolutionary new whole-wheat flour - to give consumers in select markets another "first" - a chance to stock their pantries with an all-purpose flour that delivers the traditional white-flour taste most Americans prefer, with whole-grain nutrition nine of 10 Americans need.

Healthy Choice's new All-Purpose White Flour with Whole Grains - just unveiled at the 2006 Food Marketing Institute show - bakes and tastes like white flour, but has nine grams per serving of whole grains, thanks to Ultragrain, which previously was available only to commercial food manufacturers. Home cooks and bakers now can use the ground-breaking flour to put more whole grains in family favorite recipes without sacrificing cooking performance or flavor.

The impetus for change comes from the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid food guide, which recommend raising Americans' whole-grain intake from an average of only one serving to three servings daily, which just one in 10 get today.

Taste, however, is still a barrier. More than 94 percent of flour purchased today is white flour; only six percent is whole grain. But according to a new survey by ConAgra Foods,(1) 48 percent of Americans say they are adding more whole grains to their menus. Almost half of those are doing so with foods containing a portion or blend of whole grains.

Ultragrain debuted to food manufacturers in fall 2004, and its potential as a breakthrough product has been widely recognized. With its milder, sweeter whole wheat, it delivers whole-grain nutrition with a taste and texture similar to refined white flour. In blends with traditional flour, it aces taste tests with even the most finicky eaters, including kids.

Blends Effective in Transitioning Consumers to Eat More Whole Grains

"This flour strikes the perfect balance, with the taste most Americans want, and the whole-grain nutrition they know they need," said David Palfenier, president, ConAgra Foods Grocery Foods. "The new Ultragrain flour blend has the quality people expect from Healthy Choice, with the cooking ease of traditional flour. For home chefs in kitchens across the country, it will offer a flavorful, fun way to serve up the whole grains we all need, in the foods we all love. From grandma's cookies to flapjacks & oven-fried chicken, Americans will be flipping for whole grains as never before."

"In our testing, consumers told us they loved the taste and performance of Healthy Choice flour with Ultragrain. If people like how it tastes and like how it cooks, chances are they're going to use it more often in their recipes. Ultimately, a lot more Americans will get closer to the recommended amounts of whole grains in their diets than do today with refined flour or 100 percent whole-wheat flour. That's what we mean by the whole graining of America."

Healthy Choice's new flour is made with 30 percent Ultragrain flour blended with an enriched refined white flour. Mixing Ultragrain with other flours already has emerged as an effective strategy for encouraging consumers to purchase and eat more whole grains. In fact, major food manufacturers have used Ultragrain flour blends to vault new products - such as Sara Lee's best-selling Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grains White Bread and ConAgra Foods' popular The Max school lunch pizza with Ultragrain - up to or very near the top of their category in nationwide sales during the past year. Scores of other products, such as Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers, ConAgra Foods' Kid Cuisine meals and El eXtremo burritos, and Lightlife's Smart Menu vegetarian entrees have enhanced their nutritional profile significantly with Ultragrain and lost none of their flavor, or favor with moms, kids and other consumers.

Healthy Choice and Ultragrain - the perfect fit

In 1988, ConAgra Foods' Healthy Choice emerged as a pioneer brand in helping consumers conveniently incorporate great-tasting, healthy foods made with quality ingredients into their busy lives. When ConAgra Foods looked to bring Ultragrain flour to store shelves nationwide, the Healthy Choice portfolio was a natural fit. Healthy Choice's new All-Purpose White Flour with Whole Grains gives consumers more whole-grain nutrition with the convenience of a flour that can be readily substituted in almost any recipe that calls for all-purpose or bread flour. With Ultragrain in the mix, the new flour is rich in whole-grain nutrients, with higher levels of fiber, minerals, B vitamins, phyto-nutrients and antioxidants, and compares very favorably with traditional refined all-purpose white flour, which typically has none of the bran and germ that contains all the nutrients in whole wheat.

"This flour delivers on the Healthy Choice promise of giving people convenient, easy ways to improve the nutritional value, quality and variety of food they serve their families and themselves, with no sacrifice on taste," said Palfenier. "For all those at-home chefs who enjoy cooking up a storm, this flour performs just like refined flour in almost every recipe we tested. And with the whole grain goodness of Ultragrain, what tastes good is good for you. The switch is on."

The flour begins its rollout this summer in late June, and will be available starting at $2.29 for a five-pound bag at select Wal-Mart stores in Texas, Virginia and North Carolina. Further news about expanded availability is expected later this summer. For more information and recipes, consumers can visit www.healthychoiceflour.com.