Innovation in grain processing technology — Nature’s Gold™/VitaGold® (Goodman Fielder)

What is Nature's Gold™?
Nature's Gold™ is a natural flour product, rich in nutrients and dietary fibre, derived from a novel milling process developed by Goodman Fielder Milling. In 1995 Quality Bakers used Nature's Gold™ to produce VitaGold®, a pre-sliced, packaged bread under the Uncle Tobys brand. Uncle Tobys is part of the Goodman Fielder food company.

Why was the product developed?
Although the aleurone cell layers of the wheat grain are rich in nutrients, particularly vitamins and minerals, they are trapped inside the thick cell layers. The fibrous layers of the aleurone and bran layers are relatively indigestible resulting in wheat bran being unpalatable. For this reason, the aleurone and bran layers are normally separated from the flour during milling. In wholemeal flour, even though aleurone layers are maintained in the flour, absorption of nutrients into the body is prevented by the thick cell layers.

After many years of research and development to find alternative uses for the bran layer of wheat, the research team at Goodman Fielder Milling perfected a novel milling system for capturing its nutritious components.

How was the product developed?
Nutrients can become more available by destruction of the aleurone cell walls. The research team at Goodman Fielder Milling developed a milling technique which releases these nutrients from the aleurone layers, making them available for absorption in the human body.

This new milling technique fractures the aleurone cell walls, releasing the rich store of nutrients from within the cell walls and then separates the contents from the fibrous grain layers.

Description of final product

• Nature's Gold™ is a natural product.
• The golden flour has easy particle dispersement providing mixing simplicity and consistency. It produces a soft, fine textured golden bread with no visible fibrous bits (e.g. VitaGold®).
• Products made from Nature's Gold™ (e.g. VitaGold®) have a milder flavour with no aftertaste.
• Its bulk handling characteristics makes it compatible with most food manufacturing systems.
• Nature's Gold™ has been 'instantised' to stabilise and protect the integrity of its nutrients and to provide a low microbial content. This ensures a hygienic raw material with strong keeping qualities. No specific storage facilities are required to store the product.

Nutritional advantages of Nature's Gold™

• Nature's Gold™ is richer in dietary fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals compared to wholemeal flour (see Table 1).
• Bread made from Nature's Gold™ (e.g. VitaGold®) contains 7.4g dietary fibre per 100g - higher than typical white bread (2.7g per 100g), mixed grain bread (5.1g per 100g) or wholemeal bread (6.5g per 100g).
• The protein found in Nature's Gold™ is of a higher quality than regular wheat flour.
• Goodman Fielder have funded research to investigate the nutritional benefits of Nature's Gold™. Research conducted by the CSIRO indicates that folate contained in Nature's Gold™ is easily absorbed by the body. A preliminary study conducted by the CSIRO indicates that consumption of 100 g of Nature's Gold™ produced an increase in blood folate levels equivalent to that achieved from a 500 mg dose of synthetic folic acid.

Table 1: Nutrient content of Nature’s Gold™ and wholemeal flour
(per 100 g dry weight)

Product Development
Because it is naturally rich in nutrients, Nature's Gold™ can be used to enhance the nutritional value of food products. Nature's Gold™ is patented and available for use only to businesses within the Goodman Fielder food company. It has been used to make bread (VitaGold®), pasta and breakfast cereal (e.g. Healthwise for your heart).

VitaGold®

Consumer Research
Consumer research indicated that consumers, who prefer wholemeal bread, wanted a high fibre, nutritious bread which is lighter in colour; has a soft, fine texture without fibrous 'bits'; a milder flavour with no aftertaste; and that keeps as fresh as white bread. In conventional wholemeal bread the fibrous layers of the grain traverse the crumb resulting in a chaffy, unpalatable mouthfeel. With Nature's Gold™, the bran becomes part of the bread crumb structure and the fibrous mouthfeel is avoided.
Furthermore, consumers favour products produced from natural ingredients. Nature's Gold™ therefore provided the opportunity to meet consumer demands.

In 1995, wholemeal bread represented 20% of the total market and was declining at 11%. Farrer's Gold, a Buttercup bread made from Nature's Gold™, had previously been launched. However, issues in relation to eating quality needed to be addressed to meet consumer demands.

Table 2.: Nutrient Content of VitaGold® Bread (per serve = 2 slices)

Reference Stenvert NL. New high fibre bread - Farrer's Gold. Food Australia. 1995; 47(10): 462-463.

For Further Research

Additional links

• Processing of grains
• Nutritional implications of flour milling
• Dietary fibre
• Folate
• Marketing
• Food legislation
• Fortification