Peter Fellows
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Editorial
01.05.2011
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Support for small-scale food processors in developing countries in a changing global food supply
01.05.2011
Changes in world food supplies over the last 30 years are having a profound effect on small-scale processors in developing countries, marginalizing some and providing new opportunities for others. This paper examines the trends that are taking place, opportunities for small-scale food processors and the constraints that restrict their development. The paper recommends improvements to support provided by educational and research institutes in developing countries and the establishment of a new supply service to overcome constraints in the supply of specialist equipment, packaging materials and ingredients. -
Low-cost disinfestation of food grains
01.05.2011
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Editorial
01.11.2011
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Measuring the moisture content of foods
01.11.2011
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Editorial
01.05.2012
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Setting up a food-processing unit - Part 1: Selecting the best location
01.05.2012
This is the first of a series of articles on the decisions that face small-scale processors when starting a new business or when expanding to a larger building. The article focuses on the factors that should be taken into account when selecting the correct location for a food factory. Subsequent articles will examine the design and layout of food production units and the materials that are needed to construct food processing buildings and equipment. -
Editorial
01.11.2012
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Local production of ready-to-use therapeutic food for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition
01.11.2012
Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) is a nutrient-dense paste that is an effective treatment for children with severe acute malnutrition using community-based therapeutic care (CTC). This paper describes the background to the development of local production of RUTF in famine-affected countries, its composition and standards, method of production, packaging, and quality assurance. -
Setting up a food-processing unit: Part 2: Design and layout of the production unit
01.11.2012
This is the second of three articles on the decisions that face small-scale processors when starting a new business or when expanding to a larger building. The article focuses on the design and layout of food production units. The third article will describe the materials that are needed to construct food processing buildings and equipment. -
Editorial: Problems in the meat and fish industries
01.02.2013
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Technical Reports: Setting up a food-processing unit Part 3: Materials for construction and equipment
01.02.2013
This is the third and final article on the decisions that face small-scale processors when starting a new business or when expanding to larger premises. The article focuses on the materials that are needed to construct food-processing buildings and equipment. -
Reviews
01.02.2013
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Editorial: insects for food and feed
01.06.2014
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Insects in the human food chain: global status and opportunities
01.06.2014
Insects are part of the traditional diets of approximately 2 billion people worldwide. Insects can contribute to food security and be a part of the solution to protein shortages, given their high nutritional value, low emissions of greenhouse gases, low requirements for land and water, and the high efficiency at which they can convert feed into food. This article outlines the potential of insects as a food for humans as well as a feedstock for animals and fish. The majority of insects consumed in developing countries today are harvested in nature from wild populations. In Western countries, the disgust factor in considering insects as food, combined currently with their limited availability on the market, and a lack of regulations governing insects as food and feed, are major barriers for their further expansion. However, the biggest opportunity may well lie in the production of insect biomass as feedstock for animals and fish, to partly replace the increasingly expensive protein ingredients of compound feeds in the livestock industries. Considering the immense quantities of insect biomass needed to replace current protein-rich ingredients such as meal from fish and soybeans, automated mass rearing facilities need to be developed. For this to occur, significant technological innovations, changes in consumer food preferences, insect-encompassing food and feed legislation, and progress towards more sustainable food production systems are needed. The close collaboration of government, food and feed industry, media, chefs, and academia will be essential for success. -
Insect products for high-value Western markets
01.06.2014
Despite widespread resistance to eating insects in Western countries, there has been a recent resurgence of interest in entomophagy and the sale of insects. This paper outlines some of the insect-based dishes being developed by restaurants in Europe and the sale of high-value insects as snack foods, novelty foods or gifts in Western markets. With continuing uptake of internet access, it is now possible for small-scale insect processors worldwide to gain direct access to retail buyers and consumers in the high-value markets of industrialized countries. -
Nutrient composition of insects and their potential application in food and feed in Europe
01.06.2014
With the increasing demand for alternative protein sources for food and feed due to a growing global population and changing food habits, insects and insect proteins have attracted attention in Europe as a hitherto unexploited alternative animal protein source for food and feed. The nutrient compositions, amino acid spectra, and mineral compositions of the three exemplary insect species Acheta domesticus (adult house crickets), Tenebrio molitor (mealworm larvae), and Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly larvae) are compared with the two conventional feed components soy bean meal and fish meal as well as with the human amino acid requirement, and the potential and suitability of edible insects as food and feed is discussed. -
The future of smallholders in Latin America: land, food, livelihoods, and the growth of monoculture
01.06.2014
Greater investment in agriculture is needed to reduce rural poverty and improve food security; but how investment is made, its context and conditions, is at least as important as how much is invested. This paper presents three case studies of large-scale agricultural investment in Paraguay, Guatemala, and Colombia and shows how monoculture expansion is displacing communities, undermining smallholder livelihoods, and worsening local food security. In some cases displacement is a direct result, when companies acquire land from smallholders. In others it is indirect, when smallholders next to plantations are unable to coexist with the health and environmental problems caused by the intensive use of agrochemicals. Cases also showed how large-scale monoculture expansion is competing for land with small-scale basic food production; thus, households which used to be self-sufficient in food now rely on local markets. Even when companies claim to operate responsibly, their business model determines who bears the risks, who has access to capital, and where market power lies. Responsibility should mean benefits and costs are fairly distributed and all rights upheld, including land rights. Private agricultural investment is needed, but it should complement rather than undermine smallholders, who are the main investors in agriculture. -
Impact measurement for companies sourcing from smallholder farmers in their value chains
01.06.2014
Just as no company would launch a new product or make a major investment without considering how to assess its effectiveness, no company should consider working with smallholder farmers without considering how to measure and monitor the financial and social performance of this activity. Most companies working with smallholder farmers do gather some information, but this information often lacks a clear focus. While these stories can help personalize the impact of a strategy, they are not sufficient to improve a company's performance or communicate to discerning external stakeholders. To demonstrate true poverty impact and returns on resources committed, companies need to measure their activities in a systematic way. Facing this gap, a number of companies have experimented with their own approaches to assessing poverty impact, and organizations have proposed a variety of different measurement and monitoring frameworks specifically designed with companies in mind. This paper gives an overview of the business value that can be created from measuring poverty impact in an agricultural value chain initiative and points to some tools, indicators, and lessons learned for how companies can go about maximizing the business and social impact of their work with smallholder farmers. -
Processing and quality attributes of gowe: a malted and fermented cereal-based beverage from Benin
01.06.2014
Gowe is a sweetish paste of malted, fermented, and cooked sorghum and/or maize flour, consumed in its pure state, but preferentially as a beverage after homogenizing with water, sugar, milk, and ice. A survey was carried out at different localities in the traditional gowe producing areas to investigate the diversity of the processing techniques, consumers’ characteristics, and the quality attributes. Producers and sellers were women exclusively while consumers cut across all classes of age, socio-cultural groups, and educational levels. Gowe varied in cereal and processing techniques, with maize and sorghum being used either singly or in combination (maize/sorghum ratio varying from 1 to 3) through four processes. Apart from the alternative process which leaves out the malting step, gowe processing techniques aim at producing sweetish and acidic tasting products through malting, saccharification, and fermentation. A principal component analysis plot of quality criteria of gowe indicated that the preference of consumers was directly associated with the perceptions of producers. -
Conference report: Insects to Feed the World
01.06.2014
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Reviews
01.06.2014
Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat Philip Lymbery with Isabel Oakeshott 2014, Bloomsbury, 426 pages, paperback, ISBN 9781408846421, £12.99; ebook £10.99Food System Failure: The Global Food Crisis and the Future of Agriculture Christopher Rosin, Paul Stock, and Hugh Campbell (eds) 2012, Earthscan from Routledge, 256 pages, paperback, ISBN 9781849712293, £23.31 -
Events
01.06.2014
Food-related meetings and conferences occurring between July and November 2014 -
Editorial: small-scale food processing
01.10.2014
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Field report: Sustainable support for food processing SMEs in Uganda
01.10.2014
This report describes an approach to support for small and medium food processing enterprises in Uganda that meets many of their identified needs in a financially sustainable way. The components of support provision were: 1) identification of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) needs in specific food sub-sectors; 2) provision of training to SME owners; 3) selection of potential trainers and advisers from among participants and provision of training for local trainers and consultants to provide ongoing support; and 4) creation of an independent, not-for-profit company to coordinate SME support, create linkages with other institutions, and supply equipment, materials, information, training, and consultancy services on a commercial basis. This was intended to enable financial sustainability and long-term support for food processing SMEs.