Initiative Includes Training Program on Textured Soy Protein Use

More than 50,000 undernourished Guatemalan children are going to enjoy high-protein soy foods at school early next year thanks to Florida-based Food for the Poor (FFP) and the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. In response to FFP's request for its program in Guatemala, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is buying more than 800 metric tons of textured soy protein (TSP), 500 metric tons of soybean oil and 800 metric tons of corn-soy blend.

FFP Government Program Specialist Clifford Feldman says the soy foods will be key in their mother-and-child health and education program in seven regions of Guatemala that have been hardest hit by drought and unemployment. He says young girls in the region are particularly underweight. "We like the health aspects of TSP. The protein and carbohydrates make it very appealing to an organization that is trying to provide proper nourishment, especially to children. Our effort also includes a training program to teach beneficiaries how to use the commodities, especially the TSP."

FFP staff, including nutritionists and volunteers, will add the TSP to rice, beans and other foods from USDA along with local spices to make well received foods, including a TSP burger with raisins. "The raisins make it sweet. The kids love it," Feldman says.

FFP is no stranger to TSP and other soy products. In 2002, they became the first U.S. Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) to request TSP from the U.S. government. The U.S. soybean-farmer supported World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) provided USDA with the technical information to get tsp and other high-protein soy foods approved for use in food assistance programs administered by USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"Soybean growers are pleased that groups like Food For the Poor are finding such exciting uses for soy foods that not only provide good nutrition but they are an incentive for children to go to school," said WISHH Program Director Jim Hershey. "This is recognition that we did the right thing when we launched the WISHH Program."