U.S. Wheat Associates and Wheat Marketing Center continue project

U.S. Wheat Associates and Wheat Marketing Center continue project to keep huge Egyptian and North African wheat customer buying U.S. wheat; comparisons with Australian Hard (AH) favored domestic U.S. wheat samples

PORTLAND, OR (October 27, 2002) -- 2001 domestic wheat samples compared favorably against Australian Hard (AH) white wheat during recent studies conducted jointly by U.S. Wheat Associates and the Wheat Marketing Center in a program to retain the giant Egypt and North African region market.

"Egypt imports more U.S. wheat than our second largest overseas customer by more than one million metric tons per year. Egypt has been, on average, purchasing U.S. wheat at this level for the past eight years.

"Such a large wheat products consumer and customer has attracted the attention of our Australian competitors, but we do not intend to stand by or watch as they continue to aggressively market their wheat at lower costs than U.S. wheat. Thus, we are continuing the comparison project begun in 1999 by U.S. Wheat Associates' Dick Prior (U.S. Wheat, Cairo), and Henry Stevens (U.S. Wheat, Portland) and the Wheat Marketing Center (WMC).

"This project is showing very favorable results in wheat tests, flour tests, and bake tests; with the conclusion from the Wheat Marketing Center that the blend of 85 percent Hard Red Spring and 15 percent Soft White produced 'similar or superior bread scores' compared to AH," said Bon Lee, Laboratory Supervisor at the Wheat Marketing Center.

"Further, bakers prefer the high water absorption flour from U.S. wheats as water is considered to be the least expensive ingredient for them," Lee added.

U.S. commercial, exportable domestic wheat samples used in the comparison study included Soft White, Hard Red Spring (14 percent protein), and Hard Red Winter (12 percent protein).

Soft White is grown in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington; Hard Red Spring is grown in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota; and Hard Red Winter is grown in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Wheat grading was accomplished by the United States Department of Agriculture - Federal Grain Inspection Service. Domestic wheat samples had grades of number one (#1) with no major defects. Australian Hard (AH) was graded number 2 due to 1.9 percent contamination from inclusion of red wheat. The AH sample also showed 0.2 percent "visually sprouted kernels," but other quality factors indicated a satisfactory excellent sample.

At the Wheat Marketing Center, other wheat and flour tests were performed using American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) standard methods. Milling was accomplished using the WMC's Miag Multomat Pilot Mill; dough properties were tested using farinograph, extensigraph, and alveograph equipment.

AACC Straight Dough and a No Time Dough (NTD) method were used for bake tests. Dr. Irfan Hashmi, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, provided the NTD protocol.

Results:

Bake absorption and similar or superior bread scores to AH were achieved with 85S (85 Percent Hard Red Spring and 15 percent Soft White) flour blend on both STD and NTD methods;

The flour sample of 70 percent Hard Red Spring and 30 percent Soft White had the closest functionality characteristics to the AH sample;

The STD method generally produced larger and better flavored loaves, and

Higher bread volume than AH was achieved with STD 85S, STD 70S, STD 55S, and NTD 85S.

Results tables of this session of the comparison project are available from the Wheat Marketing Center.

BACK