Improving cassava quality for new products and markets
1990
The approach that quality improvement, focused on specific market requirements and brought about by both environmental and genetic manipulation, can result in new and enlarged markets is demonstrated for the case of cassava in Latin America. To improve cassava for fresh consumption, research is being conducted on the causes of variation in eating quality of boiled fresh cassava and on HCN content. Sun drying of roots has also opened up new markets, particularly that of animal feeds; research is needed to understand the kinetics of cyanide elimination under different drying conditions in order to dry cassava for human consumption. The concern about aflatoxins has lead to research on the topic, which has indicated that the fluorescence found in cassava chips is due to scopoletin, not to aflatoxins. Furthermore, aflatoxin-producing microorganisms cannot grow on chips dried to less than 14 percent MC. The need for developing cassava var. with starch properties suitable for a var. of industrial uses, together with the root's price advantages, is stressed if the crop's industrial demand is to be increased or maintained. Quality improvement will therefore translate directly into benefits for the small cassava farmer in tropical regions
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