Refined flour faces significant attack in the U.S.
SASKATOON — North America’s grain sector is fending off yet another attack.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a citizen petition to revoke the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) approval for processed refined carbohydrates, including refined flour.
The petition was filed by David Kessler, former commissioner of the FDA.
Molly Miller, vice-president for regulatory and technical affairs with the North American Millers’ Association, said Kessler worked under a Democrat administration but also appears to be linked or aligned with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.
Read Also
Key information to know if you’re heading to Canada’s Farm Show
Canada’s Farm Show is returning to the Regina REAL District for 2026, bringing three days of equipment, technology, crop products and education sessions to Canadian farmers.
WHY IT MATTERS: The U.S. is a major market for Canadian milling wheat.
Kessler’s petition contends that refined carbohydrates used in industrial processing put people at risk for increased caloric intake, weight gain, fat accumulation in the liver, pancreas, skeletal muscle and heart and metabolic abnormalities.
“These lead to a cascade of chronic diseases, including heart and kidney diseases, Type 2 diabetes, certain cancers and possibly neurodegenerative disease,” he stated in his petition.
The petition focuses on refined sweeteners and refined flours and starches.
“In light of the substantial concerns regarding the safety of processed refined carbohydrates, there is no longer a basis for finding that these products are ‘generally recognized as safe,’” stated his petition.
If the petition is successful, it could result in refined flour being pulled off the market in the United States, at least for commercial purposes. Refined flour is pretty much every type of flour that is not whole grain flour.
The citizen’s petition is the same process that was used to eliminate trans fats from the U.S. food supply.
Miller said half of the wheat grown in the U.S., plus a lot imported from Canada, is milled domestically, so the petition has potentially massive ramifications for North America’s wheat market.
“If this happened three years ago, we would have had a good laugh about it,” she said.
“We wouldn’t have even bothered to submit comments because it would be so absurd that FDA would act on such a petition that has no evidence to support taking any action.”
However, the rise of the MAHA movement and its staunch opposition to ultra-processed food has millers taking the petition seriously.
The FDA recently released its new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which placed grains at the very bottom of the food pyramid, indicating a “major shift” in the government’s approach to nutrition.
The guidelines de-emphasize whole grain consumption, calling for two to four servings a day compared to six to 11 servings in the original food pyramid introduced in 1992.
The guidelines also call for Americans to significantly reduce the consumption of highly processed refined carbohydrates such as white bread, ready-to-eat or packaged breakfast meals, flour tortillas and crackers.
The influential document refers to refined grains as “sugar in disguise.”
‘So insane’
Darcy Pawlik, executive director of the Wheat Growers Association, is dismayed that the GRAS status of refined flour is being challenged in the U.S.
He noted that flour is made directly from grain.
“Any type of indication that would say that’s not safe is not science-based nor acceptable in our current food system,” he said.
The U.S. is Canada’s sixth largest wheat market. Anything like this petition that plants a seed of doubt in the minds of consumers in that market is dangerous.
“It’s just so insane. It should just be thrown out,” said Pawlik.
“It lacks compete scientific basis and it muddies the water of consumer understanding of where our food comes from and the fact that it is and remains safe.”
Miller said Kessler’s petition does not include good independent scientific sources. He references his own research in many instances.
She takes umbrage with his assertion that refined flour used at home is safe, while the flour used to make bread or cakes on an industrial level is dangerous.
“That’s where we really think his argument breaks down,” said Miller.
“There’s not any difference in those processes other than the scale of the process.”
The comment period for the petition is over. The FDA said it is still reviewing the case. Miller said the review could take days, months or years.
If refined flour loses its GRAS status, millers would have to file a full petition to the FDA for a new ingredient, which could take years to complete because the agency does not have enough staff to conduct such reviews in a timely fashion.
GRAS is a less onerous and more expedited way to get food safety approval.
The hope is that the government regulator will toss out that petition, but Miller worries that FDA could do the unexpected because it has demonstrated a tendency to disregard science over the past year.
She also noted that members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration have repeatedly stated that refined flour is “devoid of nutrition.”
“That’s just blatantly false,” said Miller.
“That’s completely wrong information and it’s shocking that they get away with continuing to state those sorts of things.”
Source: producer.com