Every
year, malnutrition claims somewhere between 10 and 14 million children. These innocents
mainly reside in Africa, Asia and Latin America. At present they suffer and die with only
the remotest hope of rescue. The Power FlourAction Network is being established in an
effort to change all that. With its new and novel approach, the Network hopes to remove an
underlying cause of this tragedy: the lack of appropriate baby-foods.
In this project, we are bringing to world attention a technique that is potentially
effective for feeding those children at highest risk: the ones born to the poorest of the
poor, the ones whose mothers are themselves badly malnourished, and the weanling orphans
with no mothers at all. The new technique is notably promising for use in remote
locations, in times of want, and in the aftermath of natural or manmade disasters. In can
thus reach the populations where mortality from malnutrition is greatest. It complements
breast feeding and makes the weaning process more successful for the most threatened
individuals in locations where milk and baby formula are unavailable.
The prime "tool" in this new technique is food-grade malted barley. This
white powder is nothing more than ground-up sprouted barley grains. It is a flavoring
ingredient in malted milk, corn flakes, Grape Nuts, Wonder bread, English muffins, pizza
crusts, Milky Way bars and many more foods. The United States, alone, produces thousands
of tons of it annually, but none is now used to help starving babies survive.
Nonetheless, food-grade malted barley flour could save lives. It is rich in the enzymes
that digest starch. Indeed, it digests starch so well that it turns any hot boiled staple
into a fluid. We call it "Power Flour" because it causes such a spectacular
transformation.
The approach we envision involves no change in diet, no complex routines to learn, and
barely any change in lifestyle. Power Flour would be employed solely to turn a portion of
the family staple into a form babies can fill up on. Children have difficulty swallowing
corn mush, rice, potato, sorghum, and dozens of other "solids." Power Flour
converts those boiled staples into liquids to be drunk. In other words, solids that
infants struggle to ingest become suddenly easy to handle with a baby’s natural born
instincts.
Using Power Flour is simple. The mother merely adds the powder to the hot pablum,
porridge, mash, mush or gruel that constitute the basic diet of the poorest of the poor
families. The conversion occurs almost instantaneously. The quantity used is very small: a
teaspoon of Power Flour easily liquefies a gallon of corn porridge, mashed potatoes, or
other boiled staple. The cost is negligible; the price of a teaspoon of Power Flour, for
instance, is not even 1/10 of a cent.
Taste is no limitation. Power Flour gives malted milkshakes their flavor. Moreover, its
enzymes release sugars from the starch, so the liquefied product becomes doubly palatable.
Despite some studies of weaning foods made with starch-digesting enzymes, nothing like
this instant, barley-based, food-liquefying catalyst has been employed before.
In everyday practice in the Third World village, the mother merely scoops a sample from
the family cooking pot, stirs in a little Power Flour, and passes the resulting fluid to
her weanling child. No more fighting to get pablum down; no more diluting pasty foods with
potentially contaminated water; no more digestive difficulties from a wad of starch balled
up in a tiny tender stomach. The baby feeds itself by sucking a sweetish liquid from a
cup.
Power Flour samples could be supplied by the local health service, rural clinics,
relief agencies, or other organizations. The raw ingredient could be provided in bulk or
in pre-packaged form by United States, Denmark, The Netherlands, South Africa, Japan, or
other country that makes food-grade malted barley. The cost would be about 1 cent per
child. One cent buys enough Power Flour to catalyze the liquefication of 100 cup-sized
servings of the local staple. Ingesting that much food will ensure an infant a full
stomach at least once a day. That in turn will remove the threat from inadequate food
intake during the early weaning period.
The process is safe. The food has been boiled and thereby rendered free of infection.
More than 99 percent of it is the local staple, eaten since time immemorial. The added
Power Flour (less than 1 percent) is itself wholesome. The only real changes are the
liquid consistency and the disappearance of starch. In most cases this latter will cause
no problem, but the released sugars may perhaps prolong any diarrhea outbreak.
The Power Flour Action Network is being established to get this process employed with
dispatch and with appropriate cautions and guidance. Through the Network, information will
be communicated to audiences ranging from national leaders to field workers. Trial
Power-Flour samples will be provided to interested parties. Research results and field
responses will be compiled and disseminated. The Network’s written documentation will
include a technical overview, a field-guide in different languages, and a newsletter
published several times a year. Electronic dissemination will include a web site and an
e-mail service to answer questions and take orders for Power Flour. A videotape
demonstrating the process will also be created.
Although the ultimate outcome can only be speculated on, we are confident that the
results will be profound. Already, a program directed by former president Jimmy Carter and
Nobel Prizewinner Norman Borlaug has found that malnourished children in Ghana’s
villages ingest three times more food using the Power Flour process. Observers consider
that the method makes the difference between life and death for those children. Similar
results are reported from Haiti and other spots where fatal malnutrition is prevalent.
The Power Flour Action Network is being established as an IRS-approved nonprofit
organization under code 501(3)�. The activities proposed will help garner the worldwide
attention this innovation deserves. In this way, the Power Flour Action Network might well
accomplish in a few short years, and at modest cost, a result that multinational,
multi-million-dollar organizations could take pride in accomplishing over decades. At
present, Power Flour is hardly known to such organizations. By stimulating them and also
others outside the mainstream we can swing open a new window of opportunity for reducing
the death rate among the world’s littlest and least deserving sufferers.
Noel Vietmeyer
President
The Power Flour Action Network
ROTARY DISTRICT 6270 NEWSLETTER, MARCH 1998
POWER FLOUR UPDATE
The Power Flour project, now in its fifth year, is directed by our District’s
World Community Service Committee.
During the past year, Power Flour (P.F.)has nourished children m HAITI, MALAWI, GHANA, and
PERU. A brief description of its role in these third world countries follows.
Presently a new Rotary Club in Port-de-Paix is distributing
P.F. to drought-stricken families in northwest Haiti. This club has requested an
additional 200 pounds of four, as the need continues to help these isolated families.
Three separate feeding programs have been initiated in Malawi, a poor east-central
African country, where communication is sadly lacking and infant mortality is alarmingly
high. A St Louis Fulbright scholar and pediatrician is monitoring the benefits to Malawian
children.
Last week, additional P.F. was flown by the Global 2000 project of Jimmy Carter and
Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug to supplement Dr. Borlaug’s maize introduction in
Ghana, which is made into cooked porridge for weanling babies.
The latest success for P.F. has been documented by a
botanist who routinely visits Amazonia, Peru. Native Indians who inhabit the area along
the Amazon River depend an a beverage they produce from locally grown cassava and
plantain. This drink, known as "masato," is the major nutritious food for young
children and the elderly. Unfortunately, in recent years, the outbreak of both hepatitis
and tuberculosis has been traced through the traditional
spittle method of digesting the starch for this fermented beverage. Last year,officials
persuaded the Indians to substitute P.F. in preparing the masato, rather than chewing the
starch to ferment the beverage. This innovation not only eliminated the disease
transmittance, but resulted in a sweeter beverage that was easier to prepare! Additional
P.F. will be needed this spring to continue this successful venture.
This month, ten-pound samples of P.F. have been airmailed to care giving organizations
in ETHIOPIA and KENYA. As the benefit of P.F.’s use spreads, more and more countries
will need a dependable source.
Our District’s Zone A Rotary Clubs have elected to pool their resources to help
defray future shipping costs of P.F. If your Rotary Club would like to join in
contributing, please contact Ken Schumann, W.C.S. Treasurer at 140 North Ave., Hartland,
WI 53029 (Office Phone is 414-367-3322) .An exhibit of this project is planned for the
Indianapolis R.I. convention in June. Please stop by to visit and offer suggestions for
the future benefit of the P.F. Action Network As R.I. President G. Kinross wrote in the
December ROTARIAN MAGAZINE, "This year Rotarians are working to combat poverty and
hunger. Children are the major victims of these two evils. Some 18 million people, the
majority of them children, die each year from poverty-related causes - most often chronic
hunger. And, all of those children who are malnourished between birth and age three, will
live their entire lives with mental deficiencies. In 1998, let us ‘SHOW ROTARY
CARES’ by protecting the children of the world.
Thomas H. Hartzell
1717 Pheasant Lane
Sheboygan
WI 53081-7724
(920) 458 0244
[email protected]
Briess Malting Company
PO Box 226
Chilton
WI 53014-0226
Phone 920 849 7711
FAX 920 849 4277
DIRECTlONS FOR USING POWER FLOUR (MALTED BARLEY
FLOUR) TO FEED ONE BABY
Prepare a normal porridge-like consistency of the starchy food to be used. This
starch source may be maize, rice, cassava, potato, wheat, oats, millet or any other
carbohydrate starch source. Remove 1 cup portion (1cup=227 grams) of porridge that is to
be used to feed the baby. When it is "warm to the touch" add � teaspoon (= 1.3
ml) of Power Flour and stir for several minutes. This will liquify the porridge so that it
can be given to the baby By spoon or bottle. The baby will benefit greatly by this method
of feeding.
DIRECCIONES PARA USAR POWER FLOUR (HARINA DECEBADA) PARA
ALIMENTA A UN BEB�
Se prepara normalmente el atol de maiz, arroz.,mandioca, tapioca, papa. harina.
avena, mijo u otra comida de fecula.
1 taza = 8 onza = 250 ml
1\4 cucharita = 1.3 ml
Se quita una porcion (una taza) del atol que se va a usar para dar
de comer al b�b�. Cuando est�caliente, se anade 1\4 cucharita de Power Flour y sc remueve por varios minutos. De esta manera el atol se hace
l�quido y se puede darselo al bebe por cuchara o por botella. El beb� sacar� mucho provecho de
esta manera de alimentarlo.
DIRECTIONS: COMMENT SE SERVIR DE POWER FLOUR (FARINE
PUISSANTE)
(ferine d’orge malt) pour donner � manger � un b�b�
Pr�parez une bouillie (porridge) normale d’une source de f�cule, puet-etre
mais, riz, cassava, pmme de terre, bl�, millet ou aucun autre aliment qui consiste de
carbohydrate.
Enlavez une portions d’une tamme (227 grams) de cette bouillie (porridge) qui est
prepar�e pour donner � manager au b�b�. Commencez � la chauffer. Quand � d’est
chaude au point de toucher, ajoutez � cuiller � th� (1.3 ml) de cette farine puissant
Power Flour) et agitez pour quelques minutes. Ceci liqu�fiera la bouilie pour
qu’elle puisse etre donn�e � manger au b�b� per cuiller ou bouteille.
Le b�b� ben�ficiera grandement de cette m�thode d’alimentation.
TYPICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF
A NATURAL MALTED BARLEY FLOUR
MALTOFERM* MDF F-17
DESCRIPTION:
A white to creamy, NATURAL MALTED BARLEY FLOUR with a
pleasant accented malt aroma and flavour. Diastatic
ADVANTAGES:
1) Uniform and improved fermentation. Enzymatic digestion of
starch increases production of fermentable sugars aiding in browning and oven kick.
2) Helps reduce dough mix time, improves machinability, extensibility, and gas
retention (increased volume).
3) Natural dough conditioner. Improves crumb quality and grain, softer texture and
helps extend product shelf life.
4) Provides a clean barley flavour and aroma.
APPLICATIONS:
Bagels, Beverages, Crackers, Flavour enhancer, Ice cream
cones, Pita bread, Sauces/gravies, baked Goods, Breakfast cereals, Fermentations, Health
Foods, Pancake/waffle mix
SPECIFICATIONS:
Moisture .................................................
7.0%
Color (extracted color) .......................... 2.0
Diastase, Lintner.................... minimum 200
Protein (Nx6.25) ...................................
12.0%
Fibre (total dietary ................................ 7.5%
Fat ....................................................... .
2.6%
Ash ...................................................... . 1.4%
Carbohydrates ...................................... 77.0%
Calories ................................................. 380
Sulfite ...................................less than
10ppm
LABEL INGREDIENT LISTING:
Barley Malt, Barley Malt Flour, Ground Barley Meal.
SHELF LIFE:
Suggested Storage: 6 months maximum
Storage Temperature: 40� - 75� F
Storage Conditions: Clean dry warehouse
PACKAGING:
50# net weight, multiwall paper bags with polyliner. Heat
sealed. 20003 (40 bags) per pallet, stretch wrapped
*DGR LOVIBOND, SERIES 52, �" CELL
The data listed under specifications are subject to the standard analytical deviations.
They represent average values, not to be considered as guarantees expressed or implied nor
as a condition of sale.
The product information contained herein is correct, to the best of our knowledge. As
the statements are intended only as a source of information, no statement is to be
construed as violating any patent or copyright