US Dehy Draws Interestof Mexican Bakery Industry DENVER—(October 24, 2008) The MEXIPAN Trade Show is one of the most important events for the Mexican bakery industry. As such, the United States Potato Board (USPB) recently participated in this trade show, providing information and technical materials about the use of US dehydrated potatoes (dehy) in bakery applications. The event was conducted at Mexico City’s World Trade Center, August 27-30, and attracted over 20,000 visitors representing baked-goods processors, midsize to large-scale bakery chains and traditional small bakeries. At the USPB’s booth, 414 visitors registered to receive additional information, and 133 received samples of different US dehy products, including standard potato flakes, fine potato flour, shredded potatoes, potato dices and sliced potatoes. Among the visitors were representatives from Kraft Foods de Mexico, SAM’s Club Mexico, Soriana-a supermarket chain, PABISAN S.A. de C.V.-a midsize bakery processor and Hotel Nikko Mexico. All received samples and information about bakery applications of US dehy products. Comercial Mexicana-a supermarket chain, Dawn Mixco-a baked goods processor, and two restaurant chains—Konditori and Toks—all requested visits from the USPB Mexico Engineer to learn more about US dehy applications in bakery and foodservice. Most of the visitors were chefs, master bakers, purchase managers, general managers and company owners. Two companies in Monterrey and Mexico City are interested in becoming local distributors of US dehy products. In addition to exhibiting at MEXIPAN 2008, the USPB sponsored a conference with American Institute of Baking (AIB) International’s Brian Strouts. Strouts, who is the Head of Research and Technical Services at AIB, delivered a presentation titled “US Dehydrated Potatoes: Higher Yield and Nutrition at Lower Cost.” In this presentation, he showed the results of USPB funded AIB research evaluating the effects of adding dehydrated potato products to muffins and the resulting processing and finished product quality. Forty-two bakery professionals attended this conference and had the opportunity to sample muffins made with US dehy and compare these with muffins made from a standard recipe without dehy. Both the USPB presence at MEXIPAN and the AIB study demonstrate, once again, the USPB Dehy Marketing Program’s Long Range Plan (LRP) objectives of:
- Building a foundation of technical knowledge and information regarding the benefits of utilizing US dehy in a variety of applications
- Providing education and training about US dehy where needed and appropriate
- Increasing the number of channels in which dehy is utilized
- Assisting importers and distributors to assure availability of US dehy in all target markets
- Communicating opportunities and information to processors
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