WORLD HUNGER-A NEW RECIPE FOR MEETING THE CHALLENGE!

One is reminded of the famous saying attributed to queen Marie Antoinette that "if people have no bread, let them eat cake"! This comes to mind when the recent claim by two Anthropology Professors in the US that instant noodle can solve global food problem in the year 2050 when the population is likely to reach 9 billion! It is sad to read such news reports because they are outlandish and foolish when weighed against facts. Almost half the population that live in more than 60 countries across the world enjoy a quality of life which cannot be considered satisfactory measured by any yardstick because of economic deprivation, low purchasing power and inaccessibility to food. This is why India wanted to have a free food distribution system covering almost two thirds of its population at a colossal annual outgo of more than Rs 130 billion! Consider asking the Government of India to supply instant noodles in stead of raw grains like Rice, wheat or coarse cereals! It is mind boggling to even imagine manufacturing such a huge quantity of noodles and its staggering cost! Here is a take on this news item which can make people laugh or cry after reading!  

As government officials and food experts ponder the ever more urgent question of how to feed a ballooning global population, an Amherst College anthropologist and her two colleagues explore an answer: instant noodles. The staple of American college students' diets for decades, instant noodles also serve "an important role in satiating hunger and in sustaining lives for many worldwide, including those hanging on under difficult circumstances," according to Deborah Gewertz, the G. Henry Whitcomb 1874 Professor of Anthropology at Amherst, and her co-authors of The Noodle Narratives: The Global Rise of an Industrial Food into the Twenty-First Century. In their new book, Gewertz and her colleagues examine the history, manufacturing, marketing and consumption of the ubiquitous foodstuff and make the case that instant noodles will have an increasingly significant global role in the coming years.   "As a protean food designed for quotidian consumption, instant noodles have already shown a remarkable capacity to ease themselves into diverse lives," she said. "We expect that the calories provided by the tasty, convenient, cheap, shelf-stable, industrially prepared instant noodles will remain important" as food becomes scarcer in the future. In The Noodle Narratives, Gewertz and co-authors Frederick Errington, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and Tatsuro Fujikura, professor at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University and a member of Amherst's Class of 1991, describe the biophysiology of human taste, provide insight into how marketers penetrate new markets with industrial foods and analyze what it takes to feed billions of people. They also examine why what they call "one of the most remarkable industrial foods ever" appeals to young and old, rich and impoverished alike. "Instant noodles thus far have been virtually unstoppable—and, as such, their accomplishments are worthy of serious attention," they observe. "They are telling in what they facilitate and reveal about global capitalist provisioning: They make a lot happen and show a lot happening."

The suggestion that instant noodle can be made more healthy by baking rather than frying and fortification with iron to make it more nutritious is a sound one. Automated noodle making technology is a high tech venture requiring heavy investments on machinery. And to make them instant is still more costlier! Generally noodles are made from refined wheat flour and nutritional pundits frown on such products because of their relatively low nutrient density compared to whole wheat flour. Instant noodles, no doubt is a remarkable product with very high degree of convenience but no where in the world it is considered a substitute to staple diets consumed by most people. Chinese, Japanese and many Asian countries do consume noodles regularly as it is a staple food for them but the product gained universal acceptance from younger generation population in the West also during the last 5 decades. Still by any stretch of imagination it cannot replace the traditional bread in the West or the wheat Roti in India and neighboring countries.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

WHOLE WHEAT PRODUCTS-FLAVOR VS NUTRITION

Those who eat wheat bread have ever wondered why they prefer it over products from other grains? Probably they might not have any clue and even the wheat scientists were not clear about this puzzle till recently. While consumption of bread from refined wheat flour, called in India as Maida, is predominant world over, its real reason was that traditionally for centuries only good raising and crust can be obtained during baking of bread only when gluten content is high (after removal of bran and germ). It is only recently there was a craze for whole wheat bread considering that it is rich in bran, fiber and many healthy phytochemicals. Of course bakers had to struggle with right recipe and ingredients to come up with a bread from whole wheat flour that can ensure desirable crumb and crust texture and right color. One of the discoveries which unfolded recently is that the extraordinarily appealing aroma of bread comes from the bran which contains the chemical Ferulic acid. The so called "Hot Bread" shops exploit this aroma to attract customers who can see the bread making process and receive the freshly baked bread right out of the oven! Here is an interesting exposition about Ferulic acid's role in fresh bread aroma. 

"What makes whole wheat bread a lot more appetising and tasty -- it just boils down to controlling the amounts of ferulic acid (FA), a compound found in wheat bran. Devin G. Peterson and colleagues from the University of Minnesota explain that whole wheat flour includes all three layers of the grain - bran, germ and endosperm - while refined flour is mostly endosperm. Wheat flour is also rich in fibre and phytochemicals which lowers cancer, heart, obesity and diabetes risks and is more health giving than its refined white counterpart, the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports. Peterson and team focused on ferulic acid. When they added it to white flour dough, the bread tasted and smelled like wheat bread. Understanding these chemical reactions could help bakers make healthier bread more appetizing, the study suggests, according to a Minnesota statement. Despite wheat bread's benefits, many consumers choose white bread because they prefer its taste and aroma. Peterson wanted to find out how one specific compound prevalent in whole wheat flour impacts its taste and aroma".

This study should not be a basis for bakeries to incorporate chemically extracted Ferulic acid in refined wheat flour to mimic the aroma of whole wheat based bread products. All said and done whole wheat is much more superior to commercially manufactured white flour in terms many desirable nutrients and industry should not be allowed to get away through such nutrition depleting process of making bread through addition of Ferulic acid to flours devoid of useful nutrients. It is a good thing that bakery industry is increasingly realizing  the ground reality about consumer thinking and must strive to satisfy their desire for products which are as nutritious as possible. After all a sizable population in this planet has bread and bakery products as staple foods and their health is closely linked to the nutritive value of these products.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

LONG LIFE BREAD-NEW TECHNOLOGY

Bread making was an art or skill till about 5 decades ago. But enormous strides made by bakery scientists since then in developing more and efficient technologies and reducing the time required to make high quality bread products have resulted in taking guess work and gut feeling out of reckoning. But there is one area where little headway has been made and this is with regard to extending the shelf life of the product without adversely affecting its eating quality. Now comes the news that a bakery company in the US has come out with a claim that it can make bread with 60 days life! Here are some details about the above claim and in absence of much technical data it is very difficult to vouchsafe for the veracity of the claim.

"One of the biggest threats to bread is mould. As loaves are usually wrapped in plastic, any water in the bread that evaporates from within is trapped and makes the surface moist. This provides excellent growing conditions for Rhizopus stolonifer, the fungus that leads to mould. In normal conditions, bread will go mouldy in around 10 days. But an American company called Microzap says it has developed a technique that will keep the bread mould free for two months. At its laboratory on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, chief executive Don Stull showed off the long, metallic microwave device that resembles an industrial production line. Originally designed to kill bacteria such as MRSA and salmonella, the researchers discovered it could kill the mould spores in bread in around 10 seconds. "We treated a slice of bread in the device, we then checked the mould that was in that bread over time against a control, " he explained. "And at 60 days it had the same mould content as it had when it came out of the oven."

Making a product last long is not a difficult task if the sensory quality of the food product is not kept in focus. There are a few chemical preservatives available to day that can inhibit the growth of most microorganisms but such methods cannot prevent chemical or physical changes that occur in all foods at moisture levels beyond 2% at temperatures above zero degree centigrade. In a product like bread with a moisture content of 40% and under ambient conditions staling is bound to take place and according to present state of knowledge there are no fool proof technology yet to prevent staling. stale bread is characterized by crumbling and powdering with the texture of the product getting lost progressively in a matter of few hours. The new method reported above involves treatment of the packed bread with microwave radiation which is supposed to destroy fungal spores but whether it will affect the typical texture of bread adversely is not clear. Retrogradation of starch grains in the bread during storage is a reversible phenomenon and probably bread preserved with the method reported above may regain its texture if it is reheated under optimum conditions in a kitchen microwave oven.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

FOLIC ACID IN BREAD-UNIVERSAL FORTIFICATION NECESSARY?

The issue of food fortification is a complex one and authorities world over are pulled between the desire to improve the health of their population and apprehension regarding the adverse effect of universal fortification. In a case like iodization of salt there was irrefutable data that even those having adequate iodine level in their system are not adversely affected by iodine coming from fortified salt. However this is not true with fluoridation of water because fluorides in excess can cause problem in many cases. In a country like the US most processed foods are fortified, obviously to restore part of the nutrients lost during manufacturing process but the over all effect of such fortification is still uncertain, some even claiming that such fortification improves only the financial health of the pharma industry which makes these nutrients for supply to the food industry! Latest controversy comes from New Zealand where animated discussions are taking place to make fortification of bread with Folic acid vitamin mandatory. The obvious basis is that such fortification prevents birth of children with neural tube defect (NTD). Like other cases this is also a complicated issue that can have multiple dimensions. Here is a take on this.

"Plans to introduce mandatory folic fortification in a bid to reduce the number of babies born with neurotube defects have been rejected by the Government. Minister for Food Safety Kate Wilkinson said today bakers will be able to decide whether or not tofortify their bread products with folic acid, as they have done for the last two years. "Folic acid plays an important role in reducing NTDs in babies, but fortification of bread is only one part of a wider package of initiatives," said Wilkinson. The plan has been advocated by the Paediatric Society in a bid to see a reduction in neural tube defects which can cause conditions such as spina bifida. However, the food industry has advocated to keep the status quo, saying any change reduces consumer choice and exposes the entire population to folic acid. Food & Grocery Council (FGC) chief executive Katherine Rich said it made no sense to effectively expose every man, woman and child to high levels of a folic acid in an attempt to reach a small number of women. "There is enough evidence to suggest our folate levels have increased considerably under voluntary fortification and that with more time to continue this work that trend is expected to continue. "The food industry supports the Government's aim of improving folate levels in women of child-bearing age." Rich said the last report to the Ministry for Primary Industries showed there were 34 lines of packaged fortified breads already available for consumers".

The argument that to target a small percentage of population vulnerable to NTD, it is not justifiable to force the entire population to consume higher level of Folic acid is indeed valid. Besides the economic cost involved in fortification, no one knows the long term effect of consuming higher levels of Folic acid in humans than that recommended for sound health. Probably voluntary efforts by the industry to target pregnant women only through special Folic acid enriched products may be more logical than making such practices mandatory. Besides it is normal for pregnant women to take additional nutrient supplements during pregnancy as per the advice of their doctor. After all it must be remembered that a normal balanced diet based on a variety of natural foods like whole cereals and pulses, fruits, vegetables and spices may not need any supplementation at all at any time in life. For those eating meat and fish regularly the question of Folic acid deficiency may not arise at all.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

MAKING BREAD WITHOUT AN OVEN?-HERE IS A METHOD!

Making bread is considered more a skill than science though the process is based on scientific facts. There are thousands of bakeries in many countries making their own bread using their special recipes delivering fresh bread every day through their shop front. A fresh bread from an "Iyengar bakery" in Karnataka or a Kaka shop in Kerala is irresistible as far as aroma, texture and taste are concerned though every baker uses same ingredients like wheat flour, yeast, water, yeast foods, employs a mixer for developing the dough and heat the portioned dough in an oven at relatively high temperatures. There are many newer developments that can make bread faster, with more consistency of quality and large scale production takes place in huge automated baking facilities. While oven, whether gas operated or electrical, is a standard feature in many western kitchens, it is not owned by majority of families in countries like China and India where bread is still a bought out item of the diet. Here is a claim from one of the cooking experts as to how good bread can be made without an oven and at temperatures much below that is obtained in an oven. Here are a few details.

The pressure cooker is a wonderfully versatile kitchen tool. One of the best things about this, besides the time savings, is you avoid heating up your kitchen with the oven.One of our favorite food hacks is making fresh bread without a bread maker. If you own a pressure cooker, you can get make delicious and rich-tasting loaves at home in under twenty minutes. Laura at Hip Pressure Cooking (the same smart site that showed us how to cook eggs in a pressure cooker) reveals this new bread-making technique. You'll need some sort of container, like a coffee can or heat-proof glass measuring cup, and just a few simple ingredients (e.g., flour, baking soda, yogurt). After pressure cooking for fifteen to twenty minutes you should get a warm loaf (even faster than baking bread in a crock pot). The bread doesn't come out crunchy, but you can quickly grill a few slices or put them under the broiler for some crust.


Interestingly the bread made in a Pressure Cooker needs to be further toasted before consumption because the product tends to be some what soggy due to presence of too much moisture in the baking environment. Of course the term bread can mean different things to different people and there are many products in the Orient called bread made from from rice which have no resemblance to what goes by that name in the West. Another important difference in the bread made with pressure cooker is that it uses baking powder for "raising" while traditional bread recipes use live yeast for the purpose. One is reminded of a product called "Buns" in the coastal region of Karnataka, made from Maida with Banana pulp as an important ingredient and deploying frying process for getting the fluffy texture. This product, offered in most local restaurants, is much more tastier than the baked buns made by conventional bakeries. The above report about preparing bread in a Pressure cooker can definitely give a product with its own flavor and texture which many may like as a simple alternative to commercially made bread products.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com