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100% Ultragrain White Whole Wheat Flour Now Available to Consumers

Eagle Mills Launches 100% Ultragrain Flour to Grocery Stores Nationwide this Spring

OMAHA, Neb., April 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- There's no question that whole grains are more important than ever. According to a 2008 Food & Health Survey commissioned by the Internal Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC), consumers' focus on fiber and whole grains has increased significantly. In fact, over half of consumers surveyed mentioned fiber as one of the most important nutrients they look for when scanning the Nutrition Facts panel.

The benefits of whole grains are so many that the USDA MyPyramid recommends that at least half of the grains consumers eat daily should be whole grain, which equates to at least three servings for the average adult. Yet, despite increasing interest and USDA recommendations, Americans still aren't getting enough whole grains. What's more surprising is that more than 40 percent never eat any at all. ConAgra Mills did extensive research and development on whole grain products and realized a barrier existed - many consumers didn't like the grainy texture or strong taste of whole grain products, but rather prefer the lighter color, sponginess and mild flavor of products made with refined white flour.

To alleviate these consumer barriers, ConAgra Mills introduced Ultragrain Whole Wheat Flour. Ultragrain flour is all-natural, 100% whole wheat. Its preferred consumer appeal results from specially-selected white wheat that is milled with a patented process to produce the fine texture, appearance and taste that consumers prefer. Until now, Ultragrain has only been available to food manufacturers and food service operators. This spring, Ultragrain flour is coming to a grocery store near you as Eagle Mills 100% Ultragrain White Whole Wheat Flour.

"Most Americans aren't willing to sacrifice taste, appearance and flavor to get whole grain nutrition," said Phil Lempert, food trends expert and Supermarket Guru. "Today's consumers want whole grain products to taste as good as the refined white flour products they know and love and Ultragrain White Whole Wheat Flour is a perfect balance of what consumers need and want."

The new Eagle Mills 100% Ultragrain White Whole Wheat Flour is available at select grocery stores nationwide. Consumers can easily replace a portion of their refined flour in recipes ranging from cookies, biscuits and rolls to crispy-baked or fried chicken, as families transition to higher levels of whole grain consumption. Eagle Mills 100% Ultragrain White Whole Wheat Flour has a suggested retail price from $3.69 to $3.99 for a five-pound bag.

"We have seen the success that food manufacturers and schools have had in changing their recipes to include whole grains using Ultragrain," said Mike Veal, Vice President of Marketing, ConAgra Mills. "This retail package of Ultragrain is huge in that consumers can now add Ultragrain to their family recipes and increase the whole grain nutrition in the meals that their families already love."

100% Ultragrain White Whole Wheat Flour -- Product Benefits

    --  Ultragrain flour has a taste, appearance and texture similar to refined
        white flours, but with the natural nutrition of 100% whole wheat. 
        Recipes using Ultragrain end up with a lighter color, taste and texture,
        which many consumers prefer.
    --  The product delivers 30 grams of whole grains per serving.
    --  It has more than four-and-a-half times the fiber of refined white
        flours.
    --  The flour performs well when blended with refined flour.

In addition to 100% Ultragrain White Whole Wheat, Eagle Mills has also introduced an all-purpose flour that has 30% Ultragrain and 70% all-natural refined flour. Since many consumers aren't immediately willing to make the switch from refined white flour products, the blended Eagle Mills All-Purpose Flour made with Ultragrain is a good choice for those who want to make a gradual transition to whole grain. Working as a cup-for-cup replacement for other all-purpose flours in any recipe, it has 9 grams of whole grains per serving and two times the fiber. Eagle Mills All-Purpose Flour made with Ultragrain has a suggested retail price from $2.99 to $3.49 for a five pound bag.

In addition to these retail flours, Ultragrain can be found in many products that consumers know and love. ConAgra Foods and other major food manufacturers and food service companies have been adding Ultragrain to consumer products to increase their whole grain nutrition, making it more available than ever before. Highlights include:

    --  Selected Healthy Choice Entrees including Fresh Mixers
    --  Selected Kid Cuisine entrees
    --  Papa John's Whole Wheat Pizza
    --  Sara Lee Soft & Smooth breads, buns, English muffins and bagels
    --  Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain White Breads and Mini Bagels
    --  Vie de France Ultragrain Croissants for food service
    --  J&J Snack Foods whole grain biscuits, cookies and pretzels for
        school food service
    --  Otis Spunkmeyer Delicious Essentials cookie dough line for school food
        service

    --  Cutie Pies made with Ultragrain available at Wal-Mart stores

To aid consumer awareness, Eagle Mills flours made with Ultragrain will soon incorporate an updated Ultragrain logo that has been optimized for consumer packaging and menu boards. Featuring a clean, fresh look, the logo is being made available to manufacturers and food service operators to include on their products, helping consumers easily recognize the many great-tasting, better-for-you foods made with Ultragrain.

For more information, please visit www.Ultragrain.com.

ABOUT ULTRAGRAIN

Eagle Mills and Ultragrain are brands of ConAgra Foods, Inc. ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America's leading food companies, with brands in 97 percent of America's households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip and many ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence, supplying potato, other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.

SOURCE ConAgra Foods