Bran Cereal Options

Standing in the local Green Supermarket, beside a conveniently positioned flat top trolley piled high with empty bread racks, I take out my trusty notebook and pen, pick down the two boxes of cereal I need to examine and place them under the Ausfood magnifying glass.

This is what I see.

First the box of Vogel Ultra Bran.

It is Australian made; there is a logo, a map of Australia. It’s not the Australian Made logo with kangaroo and no country of origin is to be found. There are many, many words of varying shapes, sizes and colours on every side of this box and I spend some minutes searching. I cannot find any words telling me this product is made from local and imported ingredients.

I look at the ingredients list; it’s lengthy.

Wheat bran (39%)

Wholemeal wheat flour (Vitamins (thiamin & folate)

Wheat flour

Sugar

Hi-maize TM cornstarch

Linola (linseed meal 8% soy (2%) (Soy flour& isoflavone concentrate)

Minerals (tricalcium carbonate, zinc oxide)

Salt

Natural colour (annatto)

Vitamins (E & folate)

Food acid (citric acid)

An exhausting, if not exhaustive list.

I turn to the Kellogg’s All-Bran box; it has the Australian Made logo but once again, no information about the origin of the ingredients. I’m greatly relieved to find this ingredient list is shorter.

Wheat bran (85%)

sugar

barley malt extract

vitamins (riboflavin, folate, thiamin)

As far as being bran cereals options eligible for the Ausfood list, these two have fallen at the first hurdle. No country of origin on the packaging, no eligibility for the list. Simple.

However, among all those listed ingredients there is a couple that attracted my attention and I may, on a day when time is passing very slowly and I have absolutely nothing better to do, investigate them further. Not because I consider they may be products of Australia but I am curious about their real make-up.

These two are Hi-maize TM cornstarch and isoflavone concentrate. They might be considered as red herrings, though I suspect that neither of them will have anything to do with fish, more to do with sugar and spice I’m thinking.

I’ll put them on the back-burner. Oh no!! I‘ve said that word……

I’ll regret that, you can be sure.