Week Long Evaluation

SEVEN-MEMBER KOREAN NOODLE TEAM CONCLUDES WEEK-LONG
EVALUATION OF 2001 U.S. HARD WHITE WHEAT CROP
FOR KOREAN NOODLE PRODUCTION

PORTLAND, OR (May 31, 2002) A seven-member Korean team of noodle producers, wheat foods and noodle products research scientists, and baking school officials, led by Senior Technical Marketing Specialist Dr. Woojoon Park, from the Seoul office of U.S. Wheat Associates, concluded the week-long flour milling and blending, noodle production, and evaluation at the Wheat Marketing Center's (Portland, Oregon) laboratory and Asian Noodle Pilot Plant last week.

Able to control milling, blending and mixing of ingredients, sheeting, slitting and waving, steaming, cutting and folding, frying, cooling and packaging are part of the unique advantages available at the Wheat Marketing Center (WMC).

"Our facilities, which include the only Asian Noodle Pilot Plant in the U.S., provide efficient and fast testing of the entire process: milling, flour blending, noodle making and cooking, with the ability to test taste, appearance, touch and bite textures, and to evaluate the products under tightly controlled research conditions," Dr. Gary Hou, Asian Food Products Specialist at the WMC, said.

"This team's purpose, as part of the 2001 Crop Asian Products Collaborative, is to compare U.S.- grown Hard White Wheat (HW) characteristics for Korean Instant Fried noodles against wheat grown in Australia," Hou added. More than 30 million bushels of wheat are processed annually into this unique Korean noodle with Australia supplying nearly 100 percent of this wheat.

Results: The Team identified several U.S. Hard White wheats that performed better than, or equal to the Australian control flour during the project at the WMC. More than 600 bushels of U.S. HW were submitted for the project. One of the group's food processors has requested additional flour for further evaluation.

Dr. David Shelton, Wheat Marketing Center executive director, noted "This team's project marks more than 40 sessions by international and domestic food scientists, flour millers, and food processors seeking the latest technology from laboratory research and development, testing, training, workshops, and seminars specific to wheat and wheat products. Our purpose is to develop a better understanding of individual markets internationally and to show those buyers how U.S. wheat can meet their requirements."

"Although Korea imports less than 60 percent of their wheat needs, we are making strong forward progress toward recapturing market share," Shelton concluded.

U.S. HARD WHITE BESTS CONTROL FLOUR
FOR THAI BAMEE NOODLES IN
ASIAN PRODUCTS COLLABORATIVE STUDY AND
CONTRACTING FOR WHEAT QUALITY WORKSHOP AT WMC

Also this spring, the Wheat Marketing Center has hosted and conducted an APC Study and a Wheat Quality Workshop involving two teams from South Asia, including the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

U.S. Wheat Associates and the Wheat Marketing Center jointly sponsored these two projects.

More than 16 women and men attended the two sessions, including production managers, general managers and vice presidents, quality control experts, freight logistics managers, research and development specialists, food technology managers, primarily from the regions' flour mills.

Participants from the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia created, studied, and evaluated a wide variety of products including noodles popular in their countries, including Bamee, Hokkien, and Instant Fried. The noodle products were also compared directly with competitor wheat and wheat flours.

The teams returned with :

enhanced understanding of the decision-making framework for purchasing U.S. wheat,

direct comparisons of U.S. wheat with competitor wheat and wheat flours, i.e., Australian and Canadian

a greater knowledge of the functional qualities of U.S. wheat classes, such as Hard Red Spring, Hard Red Winter, Soft White (Western White), and Hard White wheats

an understanding of the variety and end-use quality aspects of U.S. wheat, and

procedures to optimize the value of U.S. wheat purchase specifications for milling and product manufacturing.

Additional contacts for Wheat Quality Workshops later this year were made during the team visits and workshops.

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*The Asian Products Collaborative, started in 1995, is a project of U.S. Wheat Associates and the Wheat Marketing Center with objectives to:
(1) understand the Asian way of making and consuming noodles and other wheat products;
(2) develop standard protocols for formulation, process, and evaluation methods, and
(3) test new and existing hard white wheat varieties for use by Asian millers, noodle makers, and other food processors.

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