Oct. 29, 2012

African bakers attend Northern Crops Institute short course

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Seven bakers from Senegal and Rwanda attended the Baking with Soy short course Sept. 24-28 at Northern Crops Institute. The World Initiative for Soy in Human Health, WISHH, a program of the American Soybean Association, sponsored the course.

Mark Weber, Northern Crops Institute director, said, “The addition of soy flour to baked products can raise protein content, balance essential amino acids and increase bread’s nutritional value, making soy flour one of the most promising uses of soybeans in many countries. We are delighted to work with WISHH in hosting this course that showcases the region’s high-quality soybeans.”

Clyde Stauffer, Technical Foods Consultants, Cincinnati, was the lead instructor for the course. His lectures focused on helping the team develop a better understanding of the various functional properties of adding soy to baked products. Stauffer also led sessions on calculating calories, using cost spreadsheets, and various kinds of wheats and their flour characteristics. 

The initiative has been promoting soy flour to bakers in Africa for about 15 years, according to Stauffer. “As part of that outreach, about six years ago, we first started the Baking with Soy Seminars at Northern Crops Institute. We thought it was important to bring bakers to the U.S. and run a baking school for them. The first course in 2007 involved bakers from the Middle East. In more recent years, WISHH has been working extensively in Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Uganda and we will be in Ivory Coast next month for the first time.”

According to Stauffer, the WISHH program’s goal is to improve nutrition of undernourished people in developing countries and to serve as an export program. 

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.

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