Philippines urges the crop-rich to give to the crop-poor

Emmanuel Piñol, the agriculture secretary at a conference organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

He said that countries that cultivated a surplus of staples should help out countries that are lacking.

“Any country producing food commodity in excess, like wheat, corn, cassava or rice, could submit their excess product inventory to the world food bank which could loan these out to countries where people are suffering from hunger or famine​,” Piñol said.

“The world food bank will not only ensure that commodities produced in excess by a country would not go to waste thus ensuring that the farmer will make money from his endeavour, it will also contribute to the FAO’s [desire to wipe out hunger​.”

Piñol stated that by doing so, countries would be assured of a ready market for their excess produce.

“Countries suffering from food shortage would then be relieved of their problem of feeding their population​,” Piñol said.

More from Southeast Asia…​

Ingredion increases bakery snack texturisers line​

Ingredion has increased its Precisa Crisp line of texturises for the Asia-Pacific snack industry by four.​

The Precisa Crisp texturisers are designed to bring enhanced textures to baked snacks, and allow better expansion and less breakage. They also help in the development of more localised snacks with authentic textures.

The new series’ differentiated functionality lets multi-solution manufacturers address varying formulation and process requirements. In processing, they help create more cohesive dough that is easier to handle and sheet. 

The Precisa Crisp series also widens the range of textures available for snacks from “delicate and melt-in-your-mouth, to thick and crunchy”, and lets developers create differentiated snacks.

“By creating textures that appeal to more consumers, we can help manufacturers capitalise on the growing appetite for snacking and upcoming trends like ‘snackification’​,” said Jorgen Kokke, Ingredion’s senior vice-president. 

“The new series of Precisa Crisp texturisers allows manufacturers to customise desired textures, from ‘soft’ and ‘snapping’, to ‘hard’ and ‘shattering’​.”

The ingredients can be used to formulate a variety of snacks, including potato chips, crackers and biscuits. They have a variety of bases to offer different product functionalities to suit product and labelling requirements.