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WGC Plans & Projects for 2025

 

Ongoing Support for Whole Grain Education, Research and Consumption. As always, we’re working hard to educate consumers about the nutritional and culinary benefits of whole grains and to help them identify whole grains when they’re buying groceries or eating out. We also provide assistance to researchers, schools and nonprofits to help advance the whole grain momentum.

  • Media Advocacy — We respond to frequent media inquiries and field regular interviews about the health benefits of whole grains and about the latest industry trends. We increase the visibility of whole grain topics by helping journalists write accurate and compelling stories about whole grains, in both the consumer press and the trade press. 
  • Educational Materials for Schools and Nonprofits – Most of our educational materials, handouts, recipes, and brochures are available as free, downloadable files that anyone can access and print.
  • Assistance to Researchers – We help those studying whole grains by supplying information about the whole grain content of products and by offering data and insight into consumer trends. On our website we highlight the findings of whole grain research from around the world and periodically compile summaries of these studies.
  • Contributions to Academic Literature — In recent years, we published a peer-reviewed article in Nutrients called Boosting Whole-Grain Utilization in the Consumer Market: A Case Study of the Oldways Whole Grains Council’s Stamped Product Database and coauthored another paper called Leveraging Partnerships to Amplify Whole Grain Messaging, published in the Journal of Cereal Science. In 2025, we will continue to look for opportunities to contribute to the scientific literature regarding whole grains. 
  • Consumer Insights Survey — We regularly conduct nationwide, census-representative surveys of consumer habits and whole grain knowledge to help us better understand how consumers are eating whole grains, where the barriers to consumption are, and where information gaps exist. e’ll be conducting our next survey in the spring/summer of 2025. See the results of our 2023 survey here. 
 

Support for Health Professionals and Foodservice.  We can’t be everywhere, running cooking classes, sampling events, and educational sessions, so we partner with supermarkets, hospitals, universities, restaurants, and other foodservice providers to promote hands-on tasting opportunities, webinars, and social media campaigns.

  • Whole Grain Resources- We’re continually creating and updating resources and content that companies and health professionals can use with consumers, on social media, and at tradeshows. Stay tuned for more content in 2025.
  • National Nutrition Month — We’ll be updating our resources for health professionals and food service providers to engage consumers about whole grains during National Nutrition Month in March 2025. 

 

Regulatory Advocacy. We continue to be active on both the national and international stage, in advocating for clear whole grain definitions and supportive dietary guidelines.

  • Official Comments and Media Statements – We routinely submit official comments on proposed government regulatory changes. In 2024, we submitted comments to the HHS/OASH Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) on the proposed modifications to the Dietary Patterns from 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. In 2025, we plan to submit comments to the USDA and HHS regarding the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand on its Call for information: Nutrition labelling – Health Star Rating and Nutrition Information Panel. We will continue to keep an eye on regulatory changes and proposals, both here in the US and globally, and advocate for sensible, transparent whole grain policies wherever possible. 
  • International Whole Grain Initiatives Working Groups — The WGC team is actively involved in the international working groups that came out of the Vienna Whole Grain Summit in November 2017. These working groups are aimed at advancing consumer education and promoting whole grain consumption worldwide. This initiative is working to harmonize whole grain definitions at a global scale to provide a better foundation for research, regulation/labeling, and manufacturing, and is working to advance partnerships, research, and communications that support and promote whole grains.
  • Whole Grain Summit 2025 – WGC was elected to chair the Scientific Program Committee for the upcoming international Whole Grain Summit in Detmold, Germany (March 31 – April 2). This role is responsible for overseeing the agenda and guiding the mission and objectives of the event. It is our aim that this event will help translate science into application, enabling and motivating an increase in the availability of affordable and appetizing whole grain products in a diversity of markets and all throughout the food supply chain. Program details can be found on the Whole Grain Summit website.

 

Educational and promotional opportunities for WGC Member Companies.

  • The Whole Grain Academy: We’ve revamped our spring whole grain celebration, this year debuting The Whole Grain Academy: a one-day virtual grain school featuring a variety of whole grain webinars on hot topics in whole grains on April 30th, 2025. We hope you’ll join us! 
  • Whole Grains Month – Our annual September celebration of all things whole grain offers manufacturers a great opportunity for extra visibility and social media attention.