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Bühler leads discussion on food safety & nutrition at Gulfood Mfg 2014
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Wednesday, 24 December, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Dubai
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fiogf49gjkf0d The Bühler Group, a global technology partner for the food processing industry, brought together a team of leading international experts to the Gulfood Manufacturing Exhibition 2014, which took place at Dubai World Trade Centre recently. There they discussed the increasingly central role of pulses in ensuring the future of global nutrition, as well as addressing key industry issues, including food safety and security.
During the discussion, they revealed the potential for pulses and their growing importance in the western world, where there is currently limited awareness about the high nutritional value and low environmental footprint of pulses, which include dry peas, lentils, chickpeas and other dry beans belonging to the leguminous crop.
Speaking at the symposium at Gulfood, Hakan Bahceci, president, Global Pulse Confederation (CICILS), endorsed Bühler’s commitment, acknowledging the impact the crops have on food security and environmental sustainability.
“In 2013, we worked with members of the United Nations (UN) to have 2016 declared the International Year of Pulses (IYOP). The IYOP has the goal of raising the profile of beans, chickpeas, lentils and all other pulses around the globe,” he said.
“As members of the pulse industry, we know that pulses have immense benefits for consumers in the developed and developing countries. It is also an opportunity to increase awareness about the issues faced by pulse farmers around the globe, and draw attention and resources to key areas of activity and research aimed at improving pulse productivity worldwide,” Bahceci added.
“It is wonderful to see the work Bühler is doing in the area of sustainability and nutrition to support this effort. We are encouraged to see our partners in the value chain taking action on such an important global issue,” he stated.
“The sustainability benefits of pulses are plentiful. We believe that the IYOP is not only an opportunity to benefit us in the pulse industry, but advance the benefits of pulses to address worldwide issues of food security, nutrition and environmental sustainability,” Bahceci added.
Dr Beatrice Conde-Petit, global food scientist and technologist, Bühler, added, “The growing interest of the wider food industry in including pulses in new food formulations is opening up a vast range of processing opportunities for this valuable crop.”
“Pulses can be transformed into flour and be processed with other ingredients to deliver, for example, pasta-style products, baked goods, extruded snacks and breakfast cereals,” she added.
“As consumer awareness increases for this food group, the uptake of pulses within food products would grow rapidly supported by pioneering processing technology. With many food multinationals around the world already effectively working towards the utilisation of pulses in their products, we look forward to the transformation 2016 and the IYOP would bring to this underused food group,” Dr Conde-Petit stated.
Bühler is committed to innovations in pulses processing, as highlighted by the head of the pulse, spice and sesame segment (and pulse processing specialist) Prasad Jaripatke, who addressed recent the market trends and challenges in food sustainability and the company’s vision to deliver increases in yield, safety and hygiene.
He also shared the company’s vision for innovation across the value chain from post-harvest to the consumer’s plate.
Jaripatke said, “We can help pulse processors reduce food waste and energy consumption with smarter and more efficient processing technology that achieves higher yields and productivity.”
“We recognise that hygienic processing is vital, along with gentle handling, to ensure optimum product quality that is free from impurities, uniform in size and colour and meets stringent food safety standards,” he added.
“Through industry collaborations, we would develop processes that can deliver a range of new pulse products, combining ingredients and textures that appeal to consumers in specific markets,” Jaripatke stated.
Bühler’s capabilities for leveraging the value of pulses and pulse by-products, through post-harvest stabilisation, cleaning, dehulling, sorting and further processing, were also addressed during the symposium, highlighting the opportunities for healthy food meeting both local tastes and cultural requirements.
It continues to proactively develop new technologies for processing pulses and pulse based products, in order to address the growing demands from processors and consumers alike and in support of the IYOP.
An example of such developments include the incorporation of the hull of pulses (otherwise a waste product) in conventional foods like pasta or baked products to supplement dietary fibre.
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