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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider DOST pushes for wheat alternatives amid potential shortage

DOST pushes for wheat alternatives amid potential shortage

Published Mar 31, 2022 09:08 pm

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on Thursday, March 31, pushed for more wheat alternatives amid the rising price of wheat flour due to the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Both Russia and Ukraine are among the world's largest suppliers of wheat which account for nearly a quarter of total global exports.

To mitigate the impact of the country's shortage of flour, DOST Secretary Fortunato "Boy" de la Peña presented potential substitutes to wheat flour, such as sweet potato (camote), cassava, banana, and arrowroot.

De la Pena said DOST is also collaborating with its regional offices and partner state universities.

"We have Tarlac Agricultural University which is heavily into sweet potato research and development and sweet potato production," de la Peña said during a virtual presser.

"We have also Visayas State University in Baybay, Leyte which is into root crops, and our partners at the Bureau of Plant Industry and Regional Offices can be involved in the rollout and production of these crops," he continued.

De le Peña noted that DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) has developed non-wheat flour products using coco flour or flour that comes from corn, rice, and mongo.

"DOST-Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI) has also the so-called Emergency Food Reserve or the Sagip-Nutri Flour which is a blend of powders made from cassava, sweet potato, moringa or malunggay, squash, ang mongo and it is an intermediate product that can be added to various food products like bread, nutrichoco bar, polvoron, meatless burger patties, lumpiang shanghai, cookies, cakes, and soup mixes," he added.

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Department of Science and Technology Russia-Ukraine conflict
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