Science Journalism  4 min Solving the Food Crisis through Composite Flour Technology

The loaf of bread made of wheat is deemed the basic sustenance for people in Yemen, and the staple commodity that is mostly consumed in the local market. This is because most of the food style of the Yemeni people is centered on wheat which keeps them alive, at a time when two thirds of people in Yemen lack the minimal food security, while the patch of hunger is on the increase, according to the International food Programme.

Um Najib, 35, a housewife in Taiz city (south of Yemen), from a family of middle income, complains of the shrinkage in the volume of bakery products. Her family consumes bread baked in mould or flat loaves, for about 1-1.5 Dollar per day, which is beyond her financial capacity, and difficult to bear by many Yemeni families at the backdrop of the eight-year-old war.

The loaf of bread made of wheat is deemed the basic sustenance for people in Yemen, and the staple commodity that is mostly consumed in the local market. This is because most of the food style of the Yemeni people is centered on wheat which keeps them alive, at a time when two thirds of people in Yemen lack the minimal food security, while the patch of hunger is on the increase, according to the International food Programme.

In conjunction with the rapid annual population increase which exceeds 3%, local demand for white flour wheat has increased; as Yemen needs four million tons annually, according to a study issued by the Economic Media Centre, while the annual import of foreign wheat stood at 3.8 million tons.

Locally, although food cereals dominate the agricultural area by 57%, yet wheat crop does not account for more than 7% of the Yemeni national product.

In this regard, a study published in the Egyptian circular points out that the Yemeni food security reality over ten years shows that the local production of wheat crop has witnessed a noticeable decrease in light of the increase of prices of oil derivatives and agricultural inputs, as well as the dependency of most Yemeni people on the white wheat relief aids from the International Food Programme, the aids of which have also decreased, due to the lack of funding, heralding an expansion of the famine area and a wider food gap. Furthermore, The Ukraine-Russian crisis has aggravated the challenges faced by Yemen, the mostly affected country in the world, because of its dependency on imported wheat from the two fighting countries, by more than 30% of its total consumptive need of wheat, with wheat price exceeding the rate of 35% in Yemen, while there is an increase of the food gap of wheat harvest by 97%, and the size of bread loaf shrinking gradually to the size of the hand palm.

According to a study issued by the Economic Media Centre (a local organization), Yemen has now three to four months’ worth of stock. However, this is not enough to face the dangers of international wheat crisis and the management of its expectations locally through an emergency plan and a strategy of alternatives.

Composite Flour Technology

Composite flour is a mixture of flour and starches along with other ingredients, which aim at replacing wheat flour totally or partially at bakeries and in pastries products.

Normally, composite flour is a mixture of two or three substances of crop flour with or without white wheat flour, as sorghum, maize, millet and barley crops, are the most important alternatives which can be used in composite flour. Also, legume proteins can be used to raise the nutritious value of bakery products and get an amino acid balanced product, given that legume proteins are rich in Lysine substance which wheat lacks, making it as such a perfect food supplement.

According to a study conducted in 2012, and published in the Syrian Research Journal, the number of calories the Yemeni citizen gets is the lowest in the MENA region, as daily calories don’t exceed 2020 calories, compared with 3350 calories for the citizen in Egypt :, and 3070 calories in Morocco, which makes composite flour bread one of the cheapest solutions to enhance food intake.

Composite Flour Studies

Several food manufacturing researchers used composite flour to make popular types of sweetened bread and to test the final product to determine the nutrients and test the extent of its compatibility with the sense taste of the consumer. Composite flour bakery products somewhat differ in its sensory properties from those of white flour.

A local study conducted in Agricultural Research Paper Journal on making the flat loaf (a popular bread type) in Yemen, the bread composed of wheat flour and pearl millet and was made in the Food Research Centre and Post-Harvest Technology in Aden. The study was conducted by four researchers from the centre, and aimed at the dissolution of composite millet flour by various percentages reaching 30% versus 70% of white wheat. During this study samples were subjected to some chemical tests to gauge humidity and gauge the most important nutrients and minerals, in addition to gauging sensory properties (colour, shape, taste and chewing ease) of the product, compared with the popular bread made of white wheat flour only. A local wheat type grown in Hadramout was used (Shibam-8). Millet crop used in the study is characterized by its resistance to drought. It is grown in Yemen on a large scale in the Western and Northern heights, and in the coastal regions in the south of Yemen. Self-sufficiency percentage reached 94% in 2018, according to a study published by ESCWA.

Promising Results

Researchers conducting the study prepared bread from composite wheat flour and pearl millet which has more calories than white wheat only; besides having salts and minerals like phosphor, potassium, iron and zinc. The study concluded that composite bread has more nutritious value than that of white flour except for protein, as it contained 12%, compared with 15% for wheat flour. However, the percentage remains high and compatible with the limits set by the Yemeni Standardization Organization, according to the study.

Composite bread has a higher nutritious value of potassium which increased to 246 mg/100 g. when dissolving 30% of millet flour, compared to 165 mg/100 g. in the pure wheat bread. Potassium is an important and necessary mineral for protecting the nervous system from diseases, in addition to its importance for muscle flexibility. It also plays a role in blood balance and stability.

Furthermore, phosphor mineral, which is important for the growth of cells and tissues as well as for bone and teeth formation, increased when associated with calcium by a percentage of 35% in composite bread. Iron increased to the point of being four times more than that in pure wheat bread, which means that the consumer gets 55% of iron from every 100 grams, the amount recommended internationally.

The study points to a lack of iron with Yemeni people, which renders the loaf composed of millet and wheat an ideal solution to boost this important mineral, especially among the poor. The zinc, which plays an important role in the activation of insulin and the control of blood sugar, and copper, which is present in the composition of many enzymes, and consequently important for the heart health and red blood cells, increased by a percentage of 85% and 47% respectively.

The study authors found a high percentage of fibers in composite flour bread; the percentage amounted to 2.3% compared with 4% of pure wheat. Fibers, among others, are very important nutrients for the protection from colon cancer and maintaining a low cholesterol level in the blood.

Dietician Dr Amal Al-Mujahid tells ‘Khuyut’: “there can be no comparison whatsoever between the nutritious value of white wheat flour, which was subjected to grinding and lost the bran and nutrient-rich wheat germ, and other cereals like barley, millet, and all types of corn. However, the question is that we should raise the consumer’s awareness for the importance of local cereals.”.

After collating the results of the sensory factors in bread (taste, shape, colour, ease of chewing of composite flour bread), the results of sensory evaluation concluded that there are no sensory discrepancies when dissolving 5% of millet flour. The acceptance percentage of composite flour bread amounted to 90% when dissolving 30% of millet flour, compared with 89% for pure wheat bread, which makes composite flour bread very acceptable as a category by the consumer.

Dr Ahmad Al-Musalla, one of the researchers in the study who conducted several studies in the composite flour technology, among which was mixing wheat with sorghum, tells ‘Khuyut’: the study reached the conclusion that it is possible to add 25% of corn flour to get a very acceptable bread baked in moulds. Regarding maize, the study concluded that it is possible to dissolve 20% of it to get bread baked in moulds of the (French Samoli) type at a desirable degree to the consumer.”

To determine the consumer’s acceptance of composite flour bakery products, Dr Khalid Nasser, from the department of Food Science and Nutrition in Sanaa University, conducted a recent study. The study, published in the Egyptian circular, was about the effect of composite flour (sorghum, maize, millet flour, lentil flour) on the sensory properties of the most popular bakery products in Yemen (Kidem, flat bread, Roti). The study found superiority of composite flour in (Kidem) bread, and the absence of significant differences in the flat bread and bread baked in moulds (Roti). The study confirmed the possibility of partial dissolution of the types of local cereals without affecting the sensory properties desired by the consumer, while taking into consideration the dissolution percentages of wheat flour which is rich in gelatin that is responsible for the dough’s texture and easiness of formation.

Professor Ismail Mahram, Ex-chairman of the Board of Agricultural Research told ‘Khuyut’: “Composite Flour is an important solution in the developing countries to reduce the dependency on imported wheat and encourage the use of local cereals which are mostly consumed by animal breeders without realizing its nutritious value for human consumption”.

Dissolution in composite flour was not limited to cereals and legumes only; a team of researchers, as Mahram confirmed, used the grains of a wild plant called “Prosopis”. This plant grows in the coastal plain in Hadramut and Ma’rib and is consumed by animals. Researchers succeeded in dissolving 15% of it in making bread, and 2% in making delicious and desirable cake that has a nutritious value rich in fibers and protein, and in making biscuit by dissolving 30%. The products had a very good rate of acceptance.

The Intention of Making Composite Flour

Mahram adds: “Since the beginning of 2000, we embarked on a plan to adopt the composite flour culture after carrying out a number of researches and studies. As a preliminary step, several mills assigned to grind “Prosopis” seeds were made available to some bakery owners after receiving training on mixing percentages. It was expected to gradually decrease the dependency on wheat to the rate of 40%. However, with the outbreak of political unrest in 2010, this plan was not completed and we were back to square one; nevertheless, we hope that the current crisis is the beginning to revive the interest of decision makers in food security”.

December 2022