Sara Lee Introduces Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread

03/01/07 Nutrition experts recommend whole grains and consumers know they should eat them. Unfortunately, most consumers don’t like them. Instead they choose wheat breads that deliver on their taste and texture preferences but lack whole grain nutrition. Most of these consumers mistakenly believe their wheat bread is 100% whole grain. It’s usually not.

Today, Sara Lee is introducing Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread, the first 100% wheat bread that provides families the taste and texture they prefer with the nutrition they need. Importantly, this new bread has the potential to increase the consumption of whole grain in the U.S. by billions of grams per year if just a small fraction of wheat bread buyers switch to the new bread.

“Once consumers discover they don’t have to compromise on taste, texture, appearance or nutrition, they will move to Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat, just as they did with Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White bread,” said Bill Nictakis, president, Sara Lee Food & Beverage’s U.S. Fresh Bakery unit. “Our goal is to educate consumers about 100% whole wheat breads and give them a tasty way for families to increase their whole grain consumption.”

Enriched wheat breads – often made from enriched wheat flour and a small proportion of whole wheat flour – are by far the most popular type of wheat bread sold in grocery stores. Of the 650 million traditional loaves of wheat bread baked in the United States in the last year, 477 million (or 73%) lack 100% whole grain nutrition, according to Information Resources, Inc., data.

Most Americans who buy enriched wheat bread mistakenly believe they are buying 100% wheat bread. In a recent survey commissioned by Sara Lee Food & Beverage, 73% of consumers incorrectly identified their bread as 100% whole wheat when it actually has similar nutritional make-up to traditional white bread.

Research shows that consumers don’t like the typical grainy texture and bitter taste of 100% whole wheat bread. Sara Lee Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread is the first “no compromise” bread made to please the whole family with a mild taste and smooth texture and 100% whole grain nutrition. Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread has 14 grams of whole grain per slice, no artificial colors or flavors and no trans fats. It’s also light in color, offers no toppings, flakes or particulates common in whole grain breads.

Building on the enormous success of Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread, Sara Lee Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread creates an entirely new bread category to build upon its product portfolio.

Other survey findings include:

* 50 percent of traditional wheat bread consumers mistakenly believe their bread is the best nutritional choice.
* Only 1 percent of consumers can accurately estimate the amount of whole wheat flour in traditional wheat breads. Most traditional wheat breads have less than 20 percent whole wheat flour.
* 64 percent of consumers believe brown bread is better for you than white bread and 25 percent use a bread’s color to determine how healthy their bread is.

“Sara Lee has a track record of success in introducing new products because we listen to consumers and develop innovative products that do not ask them to compromise on taste,” said Peter Reiner, vice president, Sara Lee brands, Sara Lee Food & Beverage. “With the introduction of Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread, we’re poised to continue mainstreaming whole grain nutrition by offering great-tasting products that will please the whole family.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPyramid Food Guidance System calls for Americans ages 9 or older to consume six to 11 servings of grain foods per day, such as bread, pasta and rice, and to make half of those servings whole-grain servings. Research has shown that Americans who consume at least three servings of whole-grain foods per day are generally healthier than those who don’t. Whole-grain consumption has been correlated with decreased risk of heart disease, stroke, some cancers and type-2 diabetes, and may aid in weight maintenance.

“Sara Lee’s new Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread responds to a growing trend among consumers who want greater nutritional value in the products they serve their families,” said Connie Diekman, MEd, RD, LD, FADA. “Great taste is, of course, the key to getting consumers interested in better nutrition.”

“Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat can help move a generation of consumers to whole grain bread without giving up anything,” said Frances Coletta, R.D., Ph.D., director of product nutrition for Sara Lee Food & Beverage.

Sara Lee Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread will be available at grocery and other retailers wherever Sara Lee Bakery products are sold. The average price, which varies by region, is $2.49 per loaf.