The healthy foods trend is growing around the world, which means some prairie crops are pushing their way further into the realm of staple food products.
“Our (growth) is going to healthy food,” said Alexandra Asmar Lopez, a commodity purchaser for Colombia’s biggest food products company.
“Now everyone wants to be healthier. That’s what we’re working very hard on.”
Lopez’s company, Servicios Nutresa, buys crops from around the world, processes them and sells them to the Colombian market and for export.
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The company buys wheat from the U.S., Argentina and Canada. Most of its durum comes from Canada.
However, it is also buying other crops from Canada and elsewhere to blend into its mixes to increase their “healthy” profile.
“We try to include some peas, some different grains,” said Lopez during a program at the Canadian International Grains Institute.
“The common grain is wheat and oats. Now we want to introduce peas, different flavours, try to be healthier and have new products.”
CIGI has done much work in recent years with pulse milling and blending, experimenting with varieties and percentages of non-wheat-durum crops that can be mixed into products such as pasta and noodles.
