Sara Lee’s new whole-grain white buns being made here

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. — Sara Lee Food & Beverage announced that it has added whole grain to another staple in the diets of white bread lovers — white hot dog and white hamburger buns.

The Orangeburg plant on Broughton street is one of 30 Sara Lee facilities making the new buns.

Sara Lee Made With Whole Grain White Hot Dog Buns and White Hamburger Buns went on sale Monday at grocery stores across the country that sell Sara Lee bread and bakery products.

The new buns are made with a blend of 76 percent enriched white flour and 24 percent special “white” whole-wheat flour that is milder in taste, softer in texture and lighter in color than traditional whole-wheat flour. The buns taste, look and have the texture of traditional white hot dog and hamburger buns with the added nutrition of whole grain — 6 grams per bun. The buns also are a good source of calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B folic acid.

The average suggested retail price for the eight-count, 12-ounce packages ranges from $2.29 to $2.49, depending on the region of the country.

The new Made With Whole Grain White buns join the company’s existing line up of Sara Lee buns, including all-white hot dog and hamburger buns, wheat hot dog and hamburger buns, gourmet hamburger buns and 100 percent whole-wheat gourmet hamburger buns.

Sara Lee has successfully used its flour-blend strategy to introduce whole grain into white-style products without sacrificing the taste, texture and appearance. SaraLee Soft & Smooth Made With Whole Grain White Bread was introduced in July and has become the best-selling loaf of bread in the country. Sara Lee has also introduced Made With Whole Grain Plain Bagels and Made With Whole Grain Original English Muffins.

“Adding whole-grain flour to our white hot dog and hamburger buns is a big opportunity to get additional whole-grain servings into the diets of Americans,” said Bill Nictakis, president of Sara Lee Food & Beverage’s U.S. Fresh Bakery business.

“We know that most Americans are white-bread lovers and prefer the taste, texture and appearance of white-flour products. So the key to getting a large cross-section of Americans to consume more whole grain is getting whole grain into products that they will eat. If every hamburger and hot dog bun sold in America last year had the amount of whole grain that our new Sara Lee buns do, Americans would have added more than 3 billion servings of whole grain to their diets.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new MyPyramid Food Guidance System calls for Americans ages 9 or older to consume six to 11 servings of grain foods per day, such as bread, pasta and rice, and to make half of those servings whole-grain servings. Research has shown that Americans who consume at least three servings of whole-grain foods per day are generally healthier than those who don’t. Whole-grain consumption has been correlated with decreased risk of heart disease, stroke, some cancers and type-2 diabetes, and may aid in weight maintenance.

Consumers have traditionally preferred products made from refined-grain flour, such as white flour, to those made from 100 percent whole-grain flour. Sara Lee market research shows that while Americans understand the benefits of whole-grain foods, the largest barriers to consuming more whole-wheat and whole-grain breads and bakery products are the stronger taste, darker color and firmer texture associated with whole-grain flour.

Of the 820 million pounds of hot dog and hamburger buns Americans have bought in the past year, 81 percent were white buns, according to supermarket sales data compiled by Information Resources, Inc.

Sara Lee Food & Beverage is the North American retail food division of Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE:SLE). Based in Downers Grove, Ill., Sara Lee Food & Beverage develops and markets many of the world’s favorite high-quality baked goods, packaged meats and coffee.

The new buns

The new Sara Lee buns are made with a blend of 76 percent enriched white flour and 24 percent special “white” whole-wheat flour that is milder in taste, softer in texture and lighter in color than traditional whole-wheat flour. The buns taste, look and have the texture of traditional white hot dog and hamburger buns with the added nutrition of whole grain — 6 grams per bun.