Child Nutrition Programs have, in the past, allowed corn meal (cornmeal and corn flour) to be counted as a whole grain for crediting grains/breads. This is because the standard of identity for “corn meal” and “corn flour” was interpreted as yielding a whole grain.
To be credited as a grains/breads component for Food-Based Menu Planning approaches for Child Nutrition Programs (including schools, child and adult care, and summer programs), grain products must be enriched or whole grain, or made from enriched or whole-grain meal and/or flour. Bran and germ are credited the same as enriched or whole-grain meal or flour.
On February 17, 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a draft guidance entitled “Whole Grain Label Statements” that contained the following statement:
“Degerminated and bolted cornmeals should not be considered whole grain products because germ or bran has been removed during processing. Because the rest of the meal (flour) standards allow removal of some of the hull, these also should not be considered whole grain products.” This clarification by the FDA of the standards of identity for “corn meal” and “corn flour” indicates that these products should no longer be considered as whole grains for the Child Nutrition Programs.
Beginning July 1, 2008, in order to be credited toward meeting meal pattern requirements for grains/breads, corn must be labeled as:
1. “whole corn” (or other “whole” corn designations, such as whole-grain corn, whole ground corn, whole cornmeal, whole corn flour, etc.), or
2. “enriched” corn (or other “enriched” corn designations, such as enriched yellow cornmeal, enriched corn flour, enriched corn grits, etc.).
Child Nutrition Programs are encouraged to implement this requirement as soon as possible, but the requirement must be implemented NO LATER THAN JULY 1, 2008.
For additional information on identifying grains/breads, visit the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) MyPyramid Web site at http://www.mypyramid.gov/ pyramid/grains.html
For questions regarding this memo, please contact the district’s Area Specialist, or either Patricia Winders, Area Specialist or Sheila Brown, Assistant Director, Healthy Schools, Child Nutrition Unit (CNU), Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) at 501-324-9502.