Celebrating International Whole Grain Day: Mikkel Andersen represents Lantmännen Unibake in Brussels
As part of Lantmännen Unibake’s sustainability strategy, ‘Health’ plays a vital role in the company’s ambition “Baking for a Better World.” Within this pillar, we focus on four crucial areas: increasing whole grains and fiber, reducing salt, and lowering calories. In line with these commitments, Mikkel Andersen, our Global Lead on Health & Nutrition, represented Lantmännen Unibake at the European Parliament during International Whole Grain Day, sharing insights on the opportunities and challenges of driving whole grain adoption in the private sector.
Lantmännen Unibake was represented by Mikkel Andersen, our Global Lead on Health & Nutrition, at the European Parliament in Brussels during the celebration of International Whole Grain Day.
This annual event, organized by the Whole Grain Partnership, brings together industry professionals, nutrition scientists, policymakers, and NGOs to emphasize the vital role of whole grains in improving public health and reducing healthcare costs. Mikkel joined a panel discussion attended by 339 participants, sharing his perspective on the challenges and opportunities for promoting whole grains within the private sector.
Under the Health pillar of our sustainability plan, we’ve defined four crucial focus areas: increasing whole grains, increasing fiber, decreasing salt and reducing calories. Based on our firm belief in the value of industry cooperation and ideally Public Private Partnerships, Lantmännen Unibake actively support the Global Whole Grain Partnership who organize the annual celebration which aims to highlight the importance of increased whole grain intake for public health and heath care costs.
While echoing the importance of whole grains, Mikkel acknowledged the hurdles involved from a commercial perspective:
Extensive work on both new Product Development as well as reformulation – with no immediate commercial benefit.
As Mikkel shared, “This may seem like an easy task from the outside: Just change the recipes! But it’s a lot more complicated than that in the commercial context that we operate in. Yes, we can decide to produce whole grain products – but if they are not sold and eaten, that won’t benefit public health…”
Consumer awareness and interest / acceptance
Consumer demand for whole grain products is not strong enough to drive widespread change. While some consumers are aware of the benefits of whole grains, others are clearly not.
Competition vs. Partnerships / Alliances
The baked goods industry is highly fragmented, and in such a competitive context, it’s hard to drive the whole grain and health agenda forward alone. There are limits to how much we can accomplish on our own due to commercial risks. That’s why Mikkel emphasized the need for collaboration: “In this competitive context, there’s a limit to how far you can drive the whole grain/health and nutrition agenda on your own. We need to move together – and we know that change can happen when public-private partnerships (PPP’s) are formed to promote whole grain, fiber, and reduce salt.”
Opportunities to communicate health benefits of whole grain products
Mikkel highlighted how much more could be done if regulations were updated to allow health claims in product marketing. “As alluded to by others in the panel, a common definition of whole grains and aligned thresholds for whole grain claims is needed. Currently, there are no health claims allowed for whole grain products, making it difficult to communicate the benefits to consumers.“
As background, Mikkel states that there is a general shift in the scientific community and amongst health NGO’s and policy makers to focus more on the private sector value chains.
This is where we believe real change can happen. Reformulating products to include more whole grains and improving nutrition is a challenging task in a competitive industry where every recipe change carries risks. But it’s a challenge we’re willing to take on. We believe in making better choices for health and sustainability because it’s part of who we are as a company.
