Industry regulation of quality in bread, flour and wheat in France and the U.S.

Abstract

This chapter discusses industry regulation of the dual aspects of food quality (i.e. product conformance and reliability) in each element of the bread-VC. Product conformance standards and test procedures are nearly identical (based on bread variety) for bakers in France and the U.S. Bakers are usually required by local laws to utilize HACCP and bakers, in turn, generally require millers/grain processors who supply to them to do the same. But across the VC, adoption of GMPs/GAPs/GHPs is voluntary. In general, millers/grain processors utilize the same basic procedures for processing grain, however variety exists regarding required test results with the final product being a combination of baker demands and available wheat characteristics. This is particularly true in France where the grain processors compete with one another to attract bakers based on quality characteristics that are customized (often at no additional cost) for the baker. Wheat growers’ practices appear similar in both countries, but a more careful examination shows how very differently the growers in each country manage processes and benchmarks. For example, farmers in both countries use approximately 50% saved seeds from the previous crop. But French growers utilize scientific assessments to verify that genetic traits have not been lost and that seeds are clean and healthy. U.S. farmers tend to clean the seeds themselves, although independent agencies do offer seed-cleaning services. Although wheat-growing practices were examined in open production in both countries, in the U.S. system of open production and commingling, there is little benefit in checking/preserving genetic traits. Some of the more important differences in management approach in the two countries relate to prevention of adverse health characteristics, particularly changes in protein qualities that contribute to increased GI/GL levels. Wheat with ‘good protein’ qualities is appreciated by millers/bakers in both countries. I.e. good protein qualities improve both bread conformance and reliability; growers in France are encouraged throughout the VC to produce highest possible quality. In the U.S., even though millers and bakers also value good protein qualities, USDA contends that protein quality characteristics represent a commercial issue between buyer and seller and not suitable as a requirement for the U.S. grain grading standard—in contrast to France having introduced intrinsic characteristics to its grain grading system in 1998. USDA also contends that farm-to-fork food safety means starting at the farm gate, thereby leaving responsibility for food safety to a 1–3 min organoleptic test of incoming loads of wheat at the elevator. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department contends that wheat growing is an ‘extractive activity’ like oil production; that, in a sense, makes it somehow understandable that food safety might begin with the miller and move downstream, thereby excluding the primary producer. It’s possible to attribute the dramatic differences in attitude of primary producers toward food safety in France and the U.S. as ‘over concern’ on the part of the French and ‘no real problem’ in the U.S. But as a comparison of foodborne disease (FBD) incidence rates in France and the U.S. showed (Sect. 2.4.2), the U.S. rate is more than six times greater than that of France. The U.S. rate is also one of the highest in the OECD; thus, it appears that food quality issues in the U.S. are probably not confined to wheat.