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Head of ulu project updates BoH Foundation

In this Samoa News file photo, Su’a Alexander Eli Jennings outside of the retrofitted freight container back in October 2015, where raw ulu will be processed and dried to be milled into gluten free, low glycemic index flour. The container operates on solar panels to provide renewable energy for the retrofitted container.   [Photo: JL]
$5K award initiated last year
Fono News

Fifty pounds of gluten free breadfruit flour from Rep. Su’a Alexander Eli Jennings local mini mill operation was sent this year to be tested at a US university and grant money from the Bank of Hawaii Foundation helped make additional improvements to Su’a’s dehydrator equipment to mill breadfruit flour locally.

The BoH Foundation is supporting the dehydrator project, initiated last year, through a $5,000 award to the University of Hawaii Pacific Business Center Program, headed by Papali’i Dr. Failautusi Avegalio, which launched more than two years ago the ‘Pacific Regional Breadfruit Initiative’ (PRBI) project.

In a Nov. 4 letter to the Foundation, Papali’i gave an update of the PRBI project including the grant money used to support the field-testing and operations in American Samoa of the solar-powered dehydrator, which is an integral part of the PRBI project.

Papali’i explained the first dried breadfruit batch was successfully milled into breadfruit flour at the American Samoa Community College. In June this year, fifty pounds of breadfruit flour was sent to Dr. Fadi Aramouni of Kansas State University, who tested and commented that the quality of the breadfruit flour was the best he has seen.

Aramouni is the Professor of Food Science and Extension Specialist with the Food Science Institute at Kansas State University. He is an expert on food processing and product development with extensive research in gluten‐free grains and flours. He has been working extensively with breadfruit flour and has successfully developed samples of breadfruit food products formulated at the Kansas State University Value Added Food Laboratory.

Papali’i informed the Foundation that although the dehydrator has passed basic tests for the production of dried breadfruit, as a prototype, continuous improvement adjustments and refinements are ongoing.

He explained that the funds provided by the Foundation were used to pay Su’a for additional modification improvements and field-testing of the solar dehydrator in American Samoa.

Of the total grant, $1,880 went to modification improvements to the solar dehydrator; $1,347 for collecting, prepping, and grinding flour for testing — this includes purchasing raw breadfruit, prepping the breadfruit for drying and packaged flour; $375 for shipping breadfruit flour to Hawai’i and to Kansas State University and $100 to cover electricity and water costs.

According to Papali’i a total of $250 of the grant was kept by the UH for administrative fees and $48 dollars remains in the account.

Papali’i quotes Su’a saying that funding from the Foundation allowed him to make additional needed improvements to the dehydrator and assisted in getting the dehydrator closer to the goal of 100% off-grid.

“While the dehydrator is now approximately 75% off-grid, the original design was only 40% off-grid,” he said.

(Last week Dr. Jeff Gwirtz, a food engineer and professor of milling and flour making at Kansas State University was in Pago Pago to conduct an overall assessment of the dehydrator for food ready certification. From Pago Pago he traveled to Apia for meetings with Samoa government officials before returning to the US.)

Papali’i also revealed in his letter that recent discussions with CH Robinson — a $13 billion food distribution and logistics corporation — focused on a time frame for a very large shipment of breadfruit flour to the U.S. by May 2017.

“Pivotal to producing that capacity is the fine tuning and modifications needed to maximize the drying process utilizing renewable/alternative energy of the dehydrator in American Samoa,” he explained.

He also says that two governments in the South Pacific have already declared their full support and negotiations are in the process of setting up infrastructure and logistics planning for drying, product development, packaging and logistics for the local market initially and expanded to the export market.

“We look forward to future opportunities in furthering the progress and impact of the breadfruit dehydrator in the Pacific,” he concluded.