Baking&Snack - June 2014 - 79

R&D PERSPECTIVE
Theresa Cogswell
bakercogs@sbcglobal.net

How I became the 'native guide' who conducted an NPR reporter to the rest
of the story about ADA and baking. She was a good listener, but we need
to understand the consumers' worries that lead to ...

Media-Driven Change

On any given day, change is the only thing that's certain.
Lately, the effect of social media on how fast our world
changes has been making baking industry heads spin.
In February, social media got up close and personal
with the baking industry when Vani Hari, founder of
the Food Babe blog, grabbed the national stage with
her polemic about azodicarbonamide (ADA) in Subway
sandwich bread, saying it was the same chemical used to
make yoga mats. Most news media outlets, national and
local, picked up her story.
I used those media segments to lead the presentation "From Highly Processed to Clean Label" I delivered
at the recent American Society of Baking conference.
Subsequently, www.bakingbusiness.com reported my
comments. So it was no surprise when a National Public
Radio (NPR) reporter contacted me for an interview on
ADA and clean label.
After the interview was nearly finished, the reporter
asked if there is anything else that I wanted to say. It will
come as no surprise to those of you who know me that I
did have an additional comment.
"I am very disappointed that none of the news reporters have asked the next question," I said. "There are
many ingredients that are used in food that also have industrial uses." The reporter then asked for an example.
I cited calcium sulfate, which is a calcium supplement
and also part of the sheet rock on your walls.
You never know if you were heard or if your comment
will end up of the cutting room floor. In this case, however, I am happy to report what reporter Allison Aubrey
put into the story posted on NPR's website:
For a different perspective, I reached out to bakery industry consultant Theresa Cogswell. She pointed out that
"there are many things used in

industrial uses" that cross over into food use as well.
"And the assumption that it's bad for you," she says, is
just not accurate.
Take, for instance, sheet rock, or gypsum. It contains
calcium sulfate, which is also used as a food additive. In
fact, it's used to make tofu.
Hmmm. A vegan favorite contains the same compound
that's used to make drywall. Who knew?
I was thankful that this interview assisted in presenting a more balanced approach to the earlier reports. But
did it really make any difference in the long run? One
balanced story in the sea of social media sound bites
may have only been heard by a few people, but at least,
the industry side of the story had a small voice.
When a social media blogger takes a negative position on a single ingredient, companies respond. Brands,
like Subway, are at risk of losing market share or, worse,
losing the trust of their loyal consumer base.
With all of the media noise, it is hard to get out of the
muck and focus on what is important - developing and
baking the wonderful grain-based foods our consumers
love. So, how do we move from a position of defense to
that of offense or from negative press to positive press?
As consumers continue to examine food labels more
carefully, people tend to be skeptical of things they do
not understand. If they cannot pronounce the ingredient name or they have no idea why it is in their food,
certain consumers will move toward the more "natural"sounding ingredient listings. Yet those of us involved in
the regulatory side of the food industry know the Food
and Drug Administration has not, nor does it intend to,
define the word natural.
Since March, ingredient suppliers and bakers have
been working around the clock to remove
ADA from their products and ingredient legends on packaging. Finding a
functional, economical and labelfriendly solution has been a top
priority. So, even without an official definition of natural, many
bakery brands are moving to more
"natural" ingredient legends.

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Baking&Snack - June 2014

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