New trends in China's grain supply?

Recently, a kind of potato steamed bread, also known as potato steamed bread, has quietly appeared and sold well in more than 200 supermarkets in Beijing. It is understood that by October this year, the sales scope will also be expanded to more than 500 supermarkets in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

The advent of this steamed bread, which looks yellowish in color and not much different from traditional wheat steamed bread, does not simply mean the emergence of a new food product. behind it is a major change in China's food security pattern over thousands of years-potatoes are likely to become the fourth major staple grain varieties after the three staple grain varieties of wheat, rice and corn. A new proposition concerning the problem of feeding 1.3 billion people is beginning to be interpreted.

The problem-breaking work of the development strategy is tested with more than 800 kilograms of potato powder.

Yu Xinrong, vice minister of agriculture, said that the staple grain of potatoes refers to the processing of potatoes into steamed bread, noodles, rice noodles and other staple food products, realizing the transformation from the current non-staple food consumption to staple food consumption.

Potato steamed bread is the first staple food product released by the Ministry of Agriculture after the potato staple grain development strategy was announced at the beginning of this year. It was successfully developed by a professional five-member team of the Agricultural products processing Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in nearly two years. The project is seen as a masterpiece of the potato grain strategy.

On the second floor of Wumart supermarkets Taoranting store in Beijing, bags of three potato steamed buns are placed together with traditional wheat steamed buns. From the outside, there is no big difference between potato steamed bread and wheat steamed bread, except that the color is slightly different. "when I first arrived, it was five yuan and eighty cents a bag. it was on sale yesterday. You can buy a bag for four dollars and twenty cents." The shop assistant at the scene said that at present, 20 or 30 bags can be sold a day, and the customers are mainly looking for novelty and tasting fresh.

Mu Taihua, chief scientist of the potato processing innovation team of the Agricultural processing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who is in charge of the research and development of the project, said that the project was launched in 2013. the whole project is participated by three units, including the Food and Nutrition Development Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, and more than ten people participate in the potato processing innovation team of the Agricultural processing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Five of them are responsible for the development of potato steamed buns, while others are responsible for the development of steamed buns, cakes and other varieties.

Yu Xinrong believes that for a long time, the reason why potato has not become a staple grain is "three deficiencies": first, domestic potato consumption has been dominated by fresh food, lacking staple food products in line with Chinese cooking and eating culture; second, the lack of special potato varieties and processing techniques suitable for Chinese staple food products such as noodles, rice, rice noodles, etc. Third, most people regard potatoes as food to satisfy their hunger, and lack of guidance as the social and environmental conditions for staple food consumption.

The proposal of potato staple grain strategy and the success of potato steamed bread may change the above situation.

"We have developed a new type of steamed bread through the combination of potato flour and wheat flour, which shows that potatoes can also be used to make a series of products suitable for Chinese traditional food culture. It is feasible for potatoes to become staple grains. " Mu Taihua said.

Is potato included in the staple grain because there is not enough food to eat?

People concerned believe that promoting potato to become the fourth largest staple grain variety in China is aimed at dealing with the contradiction between the rigid growth of grain demand in the future and the difficulty in increasing the production of food rations, and opening up a new path to ensure national food security. The Ministry of Agriculture predicts that potatoes are nutritious and will provide 400 billion jin of food in the future after becoming a staple grain.

However, although China's grain harvest continues to be bumper and the grain production situation is good, it can not cover up the pressure on China's food security in the future. Experts predict that for a long time in the future, China's grain consumption demand will still be a rigid growth trend, and the grain demand will increase by more than 100 billion jin by 2020. However, due to the constraints of cultivated land water resources and the impact of planting benefits, wheat, rice and other food rations varieties continue to increase the cost, space and difficulty. In order to ensure China's food security, it is necessary to open up new ways to increase production.

"Potato is resistant to cold, drought and barren, and has a wide adaptability. Potatoes can be planted in most areas from south to north and from high altitude to low altitude, especially in the development and utilization of winter fallow fields in the south. There is great potential for potato expansion." Yu Xinrong said, "the Ministry of Agriculture organized an experiment in Hengshui, Hebei Province. In the groundwater overexploitation area of North China with an annual precipitation of 500 mm, the potato yield per mu can still reach 1.8 tons under the condition of complete rain cultivation."

According to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, the theoretical yield of potatoes per mu can reach 8 tons, while the average yield of potatoes in our country is only a little more than 1 ton. In the future, the planting can be expanded to 150 million mu without crowding out the three staple grains, and the yield per mu can be increased to 2 tons by popularizing a high-yield, high-efficiency and sustainable technical model, so that the annual output of fresh potatoes can be increased by 200 million tons, or 400 billion jin. Equivalent to about 1/3 of the country's total grain output in 2014.

In Mu Taihua's view, potatoes as a staple grain also have the advantage of rich nutrition. "from a nutritional point of view, potatoes have a very comprehensive nutritional composition and a reasonable nutritional structure, not only containing protein and calcium, but also rich in vitamin B, vitamin C and a variety of minerals," he said. "

How many hurdles do you have to go through from non-staple food to staple food?

In the past January, the market performance of potato steamed bread is excellent. Li Liangong, deputy general manager of Beijing Haileda Food Co., Ltd., which promotes the project, told reporters that potato steamed buns have been rolled out in more than 240 supermarkets in Beijing, with monthly sales of between 5.5 million yuan and 6 million yuan. At its peak, 800 or 900 bags of 350 grams per bag can be sold a day, with an average daily sales volume of 500 to 600 bags. It's hot now, and it's the off-season for sales. When it is cold in autumn, the sales of steamed bread should increase significantly in the peak season.

"at present, potato steamed bread sales account for 1% of our steamed bread sales, and the market response is good. Our goal is to launch some new products in October and will expand to 500 stores in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, with daily sales of two tons. " Li Lianggong said.

However, the reporter found that if Tudou is to be completely transformed into a staple grain, it will at least go through the "three hurdles" in front.

-- first of all, we should have the technology and materials to facilitate the production of thousands of families. One of the prerequisites for potatoes to become a staple food is to be able to make steamed bread with wheat flour and rice into rice, so that each family can easily make food that suits its own taste. Unlike flour, potato powder has many problems, such as difficult fermentation, difficult forming, high viscosity, easy cracking and so on. Mu Taihua told reporters that his team is trying to develop a formula of baking powder that can be used at home. "the goal is that after this baking powder is developed, as long as the processing method is indicated on the packaging, people in the family can process the food they need according to the instructions."

Second, the price should be affordable to ordinary people. Wumart supermarkets Taoranting shop assistant told reporters that at present, the price of potato steamed bread in the promotion stage is almost double that of wheat steamed bread. Li Lianggong said that this is mainly because potato flour is expensive. Recently, a ton of wheat flour costs about 3,000 to 4,000 yuan, while a ton of potato flour costs at least 9,000 yuan.

The third level needs to be accepted and recognized by consumers. Relevant experts say that China has a vast territory and different eating habits in different regions. For potatoes to be staple food, there must be products with diverse styles and tastes that meet the diversified needs of different groups and different regions in order to be recognized and accepted by consumers. Li Lianggong said: "this aspect needs publicity and guidance, on the other hand, it also depends on the market." It is estimated that it will not be until 2020 to achieve the popularity of wheat steamed bread. "

At the same time, some experts pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen the basic research of potato processing. "such as the problem of fermentation. Wheat contains gluten protein, which is easy to ferment and expand, while potatoes do not have this protein, so it is not as easy to ferment as wheat. This needs to be solved by basic research. " Mu Taihua said.