Important progress made in China in the development of potato as a staple food

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 18 (Reporters Lin Hui and Wang Yu) Chen Mengshan, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said on the 18th that since the Ministry of Agriculture launched the work of developing potato as a staple food in July 2013, the relevant research teams of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences have overcome technical difficulties such as few dedicated varieties, weak adhesion of whole potato flour, poor forming ability, lack of dedicated processing machinery, and insufficient research on nutritional effects, and have achieved important phased progress. 

At the meeting to advance the work of developing potato as a staple food that day, Chen Mengshan said that researchers successfully selected 4 dedicated varieties for potato steamed buns and 5 dedicated varieties for potato noodles from 26 potato varieties in China's main potato planting regions, and increased the proportion of potato flour in staple food products such as potato steamed buns, noodles, rice noodles and blended rice from about 10% initially to more than 35%. In addition, through process optimization, browning during the processing of potato flour and mashed potato was effectively inhibited, and a low-cost, nutritious, high-quality raw flour dedicated to potato staple foods was initially developed, laying the foundation for the production of high-quality mashed potato suitable for processing potato staple food products.

⟦NL> It is understood that the relevant research teams of the Institute of Food and Nutrition Development, the Institute of Food Science and Technology, and the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences undertook scientific research tasks such as the selection and breeding of varieties for potato staple food development, the research and development of formulas and processes for staple food products, nutritional analysis and consumer guidance. On June 1 this year, the first-generation potato steamed buns with a 30% proportion of whole potato flour were successfully launched in Beijing. At present, they are sold in more than 200 supermarkets, with a daily supply of more than 1 ton.

According to the deployment of the Ministry of Agriculture, with the continuous advancement of the work of developing potato as a staple food, potato is expected to change from a coarse grain side food to China's fourth-largest staple grain crop after rice, wheat and corn.