WHEAT MARKETING CENTER STAFF TRAVELS, TRAINS, PRESENTS, AND BRINGS INFORMATION FROM KEY WORLD WHEAT CONSUMING MARKETS BACK TO U.S. WHEAT INDUSTRY PORTLAND, OR (July 31, 2001) – Three Wheat Marketing Center (WMC) staffers have recently returned from marketing, training, and presenting the benefits of U.S. wheat classes and varieties to important regional wheat buyers and technical conferences. The meetings were organized and sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates. Asian Products Specialist & food scientist Gary Hou met with millers and bakers from across Taiwan, establishing, improving, and evaluating standard protocols for Taiwan-style noodles, steamed breads, and pan breads, furthering Asian Products Collaborative (APC) efforts.* The APC study with the Taiwan team was conducted at the China Grain Products Research & Development Institute (CGPRDI) in Taipei. In addition, Hou participated in a short course on traditional Chinese wheat breakfast foods in Taiwan, bringing U.S. wheat breeders and farmers information about the import needs of this market. Bon Lee, WMC Laboratory Supervisor, met with flour milling plant executives in Seoul, Inchon, and Pusan, Korea, to present information and feasibility of U.S. hard white wheat for Korean-style instant noodle production. This included examining virtues, quality, and ongoing supply of several U.S. hard white wheat varieties to meet their needs. In addition, Lee joined U.S. Wheat Associates staff to calibrate, demonstrate, and train in the use of a unique machine, recently provided by U.S. Wheat Associates, at the Wheat Foods Research Laboratory at Dongguk University in Seoul. Called the Single Kernel Characterization System, the machine can determine average and standard deviations of 300 kernels in less than five minutes, to report four important wheat quality characteristics: hardness, diameter, weight, and moisture content. David Shelton, WMC Executive Director and a cereal chemist, presented how the organization provides added value to the grain trade, from farmers, breeders, processors, to importers – at a U.S. Wheat Associates sponsored Asian Wheat Buyers Conference and South Asian Technical Conference in Thailand. More than 75 delegates from Germany, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States attended the conference. Along with meeting, training, exchanging information obtained during the trips, other results include the scheduling of three Wheat Quality Short Courses at the Wheat Marketing Center during 2002. *The Asian Products Collaborative, started in 1993, is a project of U.S. Wheat Associates and the Wheat Marketing Center with objectives to: understand Asian’s way of making and consuming noodles and other wheat products; develop standard protocols for formulation, process, and evaluation methods, and test new and existing hard white wheat varieties for use by Asian millers, noodle makers, and other food processors.   BACK Copyright© 2001-2002 Wheat Marketing Center, Inc., Portland, OR USA