ALIMENTOS INTEGRAIS: UMA AVALIAÇÃO DA COMPOSIÇÃO NUTRICIONAL, INGREDIENTES E RÓTULOS

Abstract

The legislation that deals with the classification of cereal-based foods as whole grains is recent. However, many of these products on the market, despite being called integral by the labels, as a marketing strategy, sometimes do not have any integral ingredient in the formulation. In view of this, and the fact that there is a current legislation that addresses the classification of wholegrain products, the objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional information and ingredients declared on labels of industrialized wholegrain products, based on cereals, marketed in the city of Pires do Rio, in Goias. This is an analytical observational study, where 28 labels of industrialized wholegrain products were analyzed, among them, pasta, bread, rice, cookies and cake mixes. The information available on the labels was confronted with RDC nº 493 of 2021 and legislation dealing with fiber and complementary information on food labels. Food brands were found that, despite declaring the foods as whole, did not have any integral ingredient in the formulation (11%). The breads of all brands (100%) had some amount of wholegrain ingredients. It was also noted that the fiber content may be related to a greater use of wholegrain ingredients in some formulations. Supplementary claims regarding fiber content are sometimes underused on these labels. Finally, it is understood that the legislation may contribute to a regularization of the cases presented and others, promoting greater reliability for the consumer when they choose to consume whole-grain products.