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Ethanol group meets this week in Kalispell

by NANCY KIMBALLThe Daily Inter Lake
| July 22, 2008 1:00 AM

The myth is being marched out again: Diverting grain crops to fuel production is wreaking havoc with the price and availability of grains for food.

That's what Shirley Ball told a group of ethanol proponents Monday morning at the 18th annual Ethanol Producers and Consumers conference in Kalispell.

Opening Sunday at the Hilton Garden Inn, the conference attracted about 40 people at the early session on Monday.

Ball, executive director and president of the organization based in Nashua, Mont., referred back to 1993 when Successful Farming magazine asked Ethanol Producers and Consumers to make a presentation to Congress supporting ethanol production and development from wheat, corn and other grains.

Sixteen years earlier, Congress had passed an act directing the secretary of agriculture to invest $60 million in guaranteed loans for ethanol distilleries.

But ethanol was coming under fire in 1993, and Successful Farming wanted to nip misinformation in the bud.

It was just two years after Ethanol Producers and Consumers had organized as a nonprofit to support production and use of ethanol as a clean, renewable energy resource.

Today, it's deja vu all over again.

Ball is making trips to Capitol Hill again, toting along samples of distillers dried grains and touting the tasty foods that can be made from the grains after they're processed for ethanol. Canada, she said, is leading the charge with ethanol from wheat.

"We're not turning grain into fuel, we're not," she told the group. "We're only taking the starch" and leaving the nutrients for food production.

"But the myth is back - heavy, big-time right now," she cautioned. "The biggest problem is finding a good-tasting, good-quality distillers grain."

The next speaker on Monday's agenda may have the solution to Ball's dilemma.

Alphonsus Utioh is manager of product and process development for Food Development Centre, a special operating agency of Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives in Canada.

A chemical engineer who has more than 20 years in the agri-food industry, Utioh has been researching functional food and nutraceutical commercialization, both nationally and internationally.

Utioh told of looking into the possibilities of wheat distillers dried grains and solubles (DDGS).

"We use mostly wheat because we have no choice," he said. "We don't have enough corn production yet."

His agency's research looked into identifying co-products from wheat-based ethanol production, a process that leaves behind high-quality protein.

His primary focus Monday was on developing food products using the co-products as a major ingredient, and determining whether they tasted and handled well, had good nutritional content and a reasonable shelf life.

First, he said, they found DDGS chemically and microbiologically safe as a food ingredient, high in protein and high in dietary fiber.

That was promising, so they used DDGS in a variety of food products and tested the outcomes.

In rye bread, for example, researchers replaced 12 percent of the traditional flour blend with DDGS and got what he called excellent sensory results - good taste and appearance, a richer and moister flavor, the typical crumb structure and a slightly more dense bread. But it increased the fiber content, boosting its nutritional value.

A ginger cookie test found that replacing flour with 25 or 30 percent DDGS again gave excellent sensory results.

It also shortened baking time, made the cookies rise higher and spread less while baking. The baked cookies were firmer and drier and had less of the spice flavor.

His agency repeated the process with an energy bar and a chocolate peanut butter confection, primarily finding good results, he said.

Based on the research, Utioh said there's reason to be optimistic that the grain products remaining after wheat is distilled for ethanol hold high potential for food applications.

The ethanol conference continues through noon today.

On the Web:

www.ethanolmt.org

Reporter Nancy Kimball may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com