How dumb are Canadian consumers?
“Half of Canadian consumers don’t realize that their bread and pasta comes from Canadian wheat,” said Canadian Wheat Board chief executive officer Ian White at the launch of a new, all-Canadian pasta.
“That’s what our surveys tell us.”
That may seem an astounding number to prairie farmers, who generally realize that their wheat and especially durum are world leading products that often dominate the markets of high paying consumers, and overwhelm foreign competitors in the home market.
On the world market, western Canadian durum often makes up more than 50 percent of all international sales. In Canada alone, 300,000 tonnes of durum were sold for pasta consumption last year.
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Consumer ignorance is being seized upon as an opportunity by the wheat board and by Primo Foods to boost Canadian consumption of the nation’s own durum crop.
GrainWise is a line of whole grain pastas produced by Primo that will contain 100 percent Canadian durum. The company and the CWB want Canadian consumers to realize that and will begin advertising it.
“The reputation of Canadian wheat as safe and high quality food can be just as powerful to leverage consumers here in Canada as abroad,” said White.
“You’re probably familiar with the idea that Western Canada is the breadbasket of the world, but we’re here to tell you it’s the pasta bowl as well. We want more Canadian consumers to be aware of that fact.”
Co-branding is the term used for marketing products so that more than one positive sales message comes across. Primo wants to use its own well-recognized name in combination with the image of prairie farmers to give its whole grain pasta a double-whammy impact on Canadian consumers.
This image push is costing the CWB $200,000 and Primo $800,000, money that White says is well worth it.
“Western Canadian farmers have told us they want the CWB to promote their product and leverage their brand,” said White.
Now is a good time to stamp the made-in-Canada image on the consumers’ mind, said Primo chief operating officer John Porco, because food safety and nutritional value are key concerns.
“Consumers are increasingly concerned about the health and safety of the food they eat,” he said.
“They are checking labels constantly.”
Whole grain pastas have been around for years, but their popularity has surged in recent years as consumers have come back to grain products after the low carbohydrate craze has faded. But many didn’t want to return to the refined, white flour products that they believe contribute to obesity.
Milling and manufacturing whole grain pastas isn’t as easy as simply switching off the sifters at the mill, said Primo pasta plant manager Gabriele Soffiaturo.
Manufacturing high quality pasta with a flour that contains bran and wheat germ, as well as the usual endosperm, poses challenges.
“It’s a different type of equipment,” Soffiaturo said about the GrainWise line.
“It’s a completely different type of equipment that we’re using to make whole grain durum semolina.”
