COCOA WORLD 21
US Role of bean handling on flavanol levels clarified
Hershey’s reports that as evidence regarding the health benefits of consuming dark chocolate and cocoa mounts, there has been an ongoing debate about which products deliver the most flavanols, and whether key steps in production of cocoa and chocolate may diminish the level of the compounds. In a recently published paper, scientists reported on the effect of
conventional production methods of cocoa beans on the levels of fla- vanols, natural antioxidants. The study, conducted by researchers at the Hershey Center for Health & Nutrition, investigated cocoa beans and cocoa powders and described production steps that retain natu- rally occurring flavanols and reported that alkali processing causes a loss of up to 98 per cent of one important flavanol, epicatechin, in the final product. The study, published in Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry, compared the effects of various common production methods on freshly harvested unfermented and naturally farm-fer- mented beans. Levels of epicatechin and catechin, a less active flavanol antioxi-
dant, were compared in beans that were unfermented and in beans that underwent medium (about five days) and long fermentation (about 10 days). Long fermentation previously has been shown to impact the level of epicatechin in cocoa beans, and the authors reported loss of both flavanols as fermentation time increased. Beans were roasted to temperatures of 120°C and the researchers
found that temperatures of 70°C or higher caused some loss (up to 88 per cent at 120°C) of epicatechin. Catechin levels, however, increased as roasting temperature increased. In addition, natural cocoa powders and powders that had been treated with different lev- els of alkali also were measured. The study found that by far the greatest flavanol losses occurred
during alkali processing. The results also suggested that epicatechin may be converted to catechin by alkali processing. "This study is meant to address the impact of processing on the
level of beneficial flavanol antioxidants found in cocoa beans," said Dr Mark Payne, lead author of the paper. "We found that the processing step which causes the most loss in the flavanol epicatechin is the alkali processing. Here the epicatechin, which is thought to be most beneficial, appears to be converted to catechin which has been shown to be less active in the body." "Most of the world's cocoa beans under-
go a natural, field fermentation on the farm and then roasting," said Dr David A Stuart, co-director of the Hershey Center. "Both steps are critical to the flavour development for chocolate and cocoa powder." "It is important that we understand the
balance in creating the wonderful flavour of chocolate with the health benefits of cocoa powder and dark chocolate. This study has gone a long way in furthering that under- standing and is the first systematic study of the whole process, from bean to powder, that we are aware of."
WEST AFRICA CocoaLink connects farmers with information
The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and the Hershey Company in the US have joined together to launch a new proj- ect that aims to connect cocoa farmers with much-needed information. The project, CocoaLink, is a public-private partnership between the three
organisations, and is an innovative agricultural extension service that uses mobile phones to carry messages to farmers in remote places. The pro- gramme was unveiled in March at an event which included the Honourable E T Mensah, Ghana’s Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, and James Nevels, Chairman of The Hershey Company. The CocoaLink programme is currently enrolling farmers in a pilot area
in the Western Region. A farmer registration system was due to be ready by the end of April, enabling any Ghanaian farmer to sign up by sending the text "COCO" to 1980. CocoaLink will make use of Ghana’s rapidly develop- ing mobile phone infrastructure and build on the existing successful WCF education and literacy programmes. It is hoped that the programme will eventually reach more than 8,000 cocoa farmers and community members in 15 pilot communities in the cocoa-growing regions of Western Ghana. The programme will provide cocoa farmers with useful information about
improving farming practices, farm safety, child labour, health, disease pre- vention, post-harvest processing and marketing. Through voice and SMS text messages delivered in their local language or English, cocoa farmers will receive the information free of charge. They will also be able to share information and receive answers to specific questions relating to cocoa farming. "Harnessing emerging technology that directly benefits farmers and
their communities will dramatically accelerate the flow of information to the cocoa regions," said Hershey Company Vice President Andy McCormick. "Because any Ghanaian farmer with a mobile phone can sign up for CocoaLink, we expect more than 100,000 cocoa farmers and their families to benefit from this programme during the next three years."
May 2011 C&CI
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