When was it decided to start fortifying breakfast foods, and why not other breads like pies, cakes, or biscuits?
Wow, I could have had a V-8,
- Jinx
According to my trusty, but aging Encyclopedia Brittanica, the fortified breakfast cereals were a product of modern advertising and marketing in the tv age of the 1950’s. The success of the ad blitz brought pre-packaged, ready-to-eat cereal from a minor player to a modern staple at the breakfast table. It succeeded through appeals to children with cartoon characters and a prize in every box. It won over parents with claims of added nutrition.
It never made it’s way to pies or cakes for the obvious reason that no one is expecting their baked goods to be nutritious. There’s no competitive advantage.
Oh, I forgot to mention … Enriching foods after processing is a common method of replacing nutrients lost during the cooking process. (Look at packages of bread, for example). It is not clear to me that this was done with breakfast cereals prior to the 1950’s. What IS clear is that it didn’t become important to the consumer until various companies began vying for their share of the breakfast market.
Personally, I prefer the fortified breakfast drinks.
Like Night Train.
Lots of white breads are fortified. Orange juice (or any juice) can be fortified with calcium. There’s a line of enriched baby cookies. There are soy enriched and protien fortified pastas. I know there are more. Seems like they can slip vitamins into anything now. My son takes vitamin gummie bears.