Americans still are not meeting the recommended intake levels for dietary fiber, a nutritional failure that can lead to the development of a number of health issues down the road. The shortfall is so critical that the new “Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025” has designated dietary fiber as “a dietary component of public health concern.”

Prepared Foods talks with Christine Farkas, a chef consultant and founder of IHeartFood Consulting, a food product and culinary consulting firm in Vancouver, B.C.

In May 2016, the US FDA shook the fiber world when it released its long awaited final rule Nutrition and Supplement Facts Label Regulations. Several previously approved fibers, including oat fiber and inulin, were excluded from the new definitions. Customers have been left in limbo, wondering whether they need to be scrambling to find another fiber.