Researchers Develop New Sorghum Product for International Food Aid
The Sorghum Checkoff and Kansas State University are collaborating to develop new sorghum-fortified products to meet the growing needs of international food aid.
Tufts University recently released new guidelines for food aid products, suggesting the use sorghum as a quality alternative grain could expand options in the food aid basket. K-State researchers have been working to develop a sorghum-soy blend designed to meet the new guidelines while creating opportunities for U.S. sorghum.
“Sorghum is nutrient rich, drought resistant and well accepted by many cultures receiving [food aid] assistance, so it makes sense to include it more often,” said Sajid Alavi, the project’s lead researcher from K-State. “This should not only provide more healthy options for food aid, but it will also increase the amount of U.S. sorghum purchased for food aid programs.”
Alavi said this product is a prototype and will need further evaluation, including field testing, nutrient evaluation and economic efficacy, but he is optimistic about the results of these tests.
“Because the sorghum-soy blend targets children under the age of five, we will work with caregivers to evaluate nutritional benefits and acceptability,” Alavi said. “We will provide this product to caregivers and later evaluate a child’s growth and changes in weight and height.”
K-State is using an extrusion process that involves precooking sorghum and soy flour into a “puff” then grinding the puff into powder. This process eliminates the need to cook the product for an extended period of time and essentially creates an “instant” food product, requiring less energy on the part of the food aid recipient. This process also allows researchers to add micro-nutrients and vitamins to the mixture to improve deficiencies such as anemia, which are common in these countries.
Many countries around the world do not accept genetically modified grains, which makes sorghum an attractive option for many non-profit organizations buying for food aid. Alavi said including whole grain sorghum rather than decorticated flour and finding an alternative to soybeans would make this product even more widely accepted.
Florentino Lopez, Sorghum Checkoff executive director, said this project is very exciting for the sorghum and food aid industries.
By including sorghum in more food aid products we are increasing the demand for U.S. sorghum and giving donor organizations more options within the food aid basket,” Lopez said. “Sorghum offers great opportunities to the food aid community and Dr. Alavi continues to verify this through his research. We will continue to work with K-State to develop more products to increase the value of sorghum and benefit the food aid community.”