Conference held for West Africa’s flour producers
M The ability to capture the value chain by Sven-Olof Malmqvist, M4L Board of Trustees, Owner at Grytåsa In my last column I wrote about the cycle of producing feed and ultimately food and its constraints and challenges. This month I will address the importance to handle the crops postharvest in a professional way in order to avoid growth of mould and fungi which can lead to mycotoxins. The most common is aflatoxins found in peanuts, maize and in many other commodities, the fungal source is the well-known Aspergillus family, and it can cause cancer in humans and other adverse effects in animals especially chickens, other mycotoxins are fumonisin, ochratoxin, zearalenone and they are all bad news! An international report says that 25 percent of the grain worldwide is contaminated with mycotoxins. It is estimated that 10 percent of the global harvest is lost by fungi and mycotoxins, so it is representing an enormous value and has a great impact on our ability to feed our growing population. The absolutely best way is to prevent this is to dry the crop to the extent that the “water activity” will be kept at a very low level and thereby minimise the growth of fungi and mould. The major problem is to keep that water activity for a longer period and in particular humid and hot conditions. Another element is the nature of the storage bin and if you will have huge variation between night and day temperature. Once you have got occurrence of mycotoxins one must emphasise that there are no universal and reliable methods to erase them completely even though there are commercial toxin binders available in the market. Therefore, it is better to prevent than cure by using inhibitors parallel with good storage practice. Propionic acid for mould inhibition is the most effective and you can mix it with other organic acids like formic to get a better spectrum, their salt can also be used as it is more user friendly but correctly applied and with safety precautions the liquid is more effective. The presence of mycotoxins in grains and feedstuffs is hazardous for human and animal health so we better fight this battle together in order to at least minimise it as much as possible. The best way forward is to increase the awareness and introduce best practice.
Sven Olof is an experienced export manager with a demonstrated history of working in the chemicals industry. He is skilled in marketing management, market planning, business planning, international business and sales management. He is a strong sales professional who graduated from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Malmoe. 34 | August 2018 - Milling and Grain
ühlenchemie had issued an invitation to a family meeting of the West African milling industry in Ghana in April 2018. The objective of this symposium, the fourth of its kind in Accra, was an intensive transfer of know-how between all the important players in the industry. Over 120 participants from mills, suppliers, governments and NGOs met for two days of networking in Ghana’s capital. The symposium “Understanding Flour” was directed towards mills in the French-speaking states of West Africa. The millers discussed topics of current importance to the flour industry together with manufacturers of laboratory equipment, mill builders, wheat traders and health experts from governments and NGOs. Experts gave further stimulus in the form of information on the latest developments in the use of enzymes in the production of flour and pasta. Like all Mühlenchemie events, the programme in Accra offered plenty of opportunity for discussion between the participants alongside the specialist lectures. “Our aim is to draw the experience of experts and millers together in order to promote an understanding of flour production in every individual. That is the only way we can meet the challenges of constantly changing climatic, economic and market-related conditions,” said Managing Director Lennart Kutschinski at the opening of the symposium. So, for Emenike Okoye, who manages the Mühlenchemie Technology Centre opened in Lagos last year, the event was valuable for another reason, too, “We safeguard the staple food of several hundreds of million people. The West African milling industry is a family that extends across national borders and thrives in spite of competition. This special relationship is something the participants in the symposium were able to experience once again during the two days in Accra.” Mühlenchemie is the international market leader in flour standardisation, flour improvement and flour fortification. The company standardises more than 100 million tonnes of wheat annually. It exports its products to over 120 countries and maintains a close partnership with over 2,000 mills around the globe. At the central Stern-Technology Centre in Ahrensburg, near Hamburg, 80 research scientists and applications technologists work on tailor-made solutions to meet the needs of the milling industry worldwide. In order to transfer this know-how into the customers’ markets, the company has invested several million EUR in enlarging its research and production capacities over the past few years. A team of experts now advises mills on the spot in Mexico, Singapore, Malaysia, India, China, Russia and Turkey and offers individual solutions for achieving optimum flour quality. Last year, in Lagos, the company opened its first Technology Centre in the African continent.