The Whole Grain Stamp: What It's Trying To Tell You

Whether you're casually browsing the supermarket aisles or you're on a pointed mission to get everything on your list, you're probably not going to take the time to read every single little label on the packages of food you're throwing in the cart. Packages are littered with labels these days, so it's easy to miss them. But there's one tiny little yellow label that you should know about if you're a fan of eating whole grains. It's called the Whole Grain Stamp.

Seen above, the stamp can be found on breads, whole wheat pastas, cereals and several other food items. Introduced in 2006, the Whole Grain Stamp was created by the Whole Grains Council to help consumers identify which products contain certified amounts of whole grains. This humble little label makes life much easier for those of us trying to spot whole grain foods. Just make sure to look for the little yellow label featuring a sheaf of grain and a bold black border.

There are two different types of stamps to look out for: the "Basic Stamp" and the "100% Stamp."

100% Stamp
This one's easy. If a product bears this stamp, all of its grain ingredients are whole grains. These products are also guaranteed to contain at least 16 grams of whole grain per serving.

Basic Stamp
This one's a little trickier. Products labeled with this stamp contain at least 8 grams of whole grains per serving, but the product doesn't necessarily contain only whole grains -- it may also contain some refined grains. So even if a product has large amounts of whole grains, it must use the Basic Stamp if it also contains extra bran, germ or refined flour.

Each of these stamps display the number of grams of whole grains contained in one serving of the product. And because the stamp also reminds you that you should aim for eating 48 grams or more of whole grains every day, it couldn't be easier to make sure you're getting your daily dose.

Have you ever seen this stamp on your food products? Leave us a comment below.

Comments

[DarleenMB]

10:45 AM on 03/14/2012

Grains are NOT healthy. Especially not WHEAT which it seems is in nearly everything. I recommend Dr. William Davis's book "Wheat Belly" as well as his blog "www.wheatbellyblog.com" for more information.

[rstedfield]

10:34 AM on 03/10/2012

I would also like to see the NON-GMO stamp. Difficult though, when a few corporations controll the seed market for most of the grains and 85-90% are GMO. Beet sugar are GMO. Buy cane sugar instead.

[Gyrobob]

10:29 AM on 03/09/2012

These things will be pretty valuable someday. With the rapidly spreading knowledge about the harm (blood sugar spikes caused by unnaturally high carb content, primarily) from whole grain food, especially wheat, the use of "healthy whole grains" is starting to plummet in various locales around the world. The avoidance of grains for health reasons will become prevalent here in the U.S. within the next few years. Hold on to those stamps!