Indonesia
U.S. soy is pumping up the protein content of wheat noodles in an innovative project in Indonesia. Five Indonesian companies began producing steam-dried wheat noodles enriched with 10 percent soy flour provided through U.S. food aid, thanks in part to WISHH.
The project is also introducing soy-wheat noodles to Indonesian school children. The Initiative provided snack noodles containing 20 percent soy flour to 15,000 children in 120 different Indonesian schools. This effort used 500 tons of U.S. soy flour, and it has a long-term value in introducing soy to the growing consumer population in Indonesia.
The American Soybean Association-International Marketing office in Singapore helped develop the formulation for the soy-and-wheat noodles at the U.S. Wheat Associates Regional Noodle Training Center in Singapore. WISHH and ASA-IM worked with the International Relief and Development (IRD) organization to request the USDA to provide the 30,000 metric tons of what and 2,500 metric tons of defatted soy flour in the international development program.
At least one of the five producers of the noodle expressed interest in commercializing the product when the IRD relief project was completed.
