It’s not just for beer anymore. The Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI) and the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) are co-sponsoring a new three-day course promoting western Canadian barley as a highly nutritious food ingredient. The course is being offered to domestic and international millers and food processors and will showcase quality Prairie barley for use in the emerging barley food sector.

In preparation for the course, CIGI is taking delivery of several new pieces of processing equipment worth $150,000, funded by the CWB. The new CWB/CIGI Food Barley Program, for two dozen participants from North America, is scheduled for March 19 to 21 in Winnipeg. A second program, for Japanese customers, is scheduled for this spring.

“Showing our existing and potential customers how to incorporate barley into existing and innovative food products promises big dividends for western Canadian farmers,” said Greg Arason, the CWB’s president and CEO. “There’s tremendous potential to increase the size of our food barley market.”

Barry Senft, CIGI’s executive director, said: “This expansion of CIGI’s technical capabilities further illustrates our versatility in providing programs and services targeted to a wide variety of industry needs and interests.”

Dr. Linda Malcolmson, CIGI’s director of Special Crops, Oilseeds and Pulses, said studies have shown conclusively that barley can lower blood cholesterol levels and improve blood glucose levels in people with Type II diabetes.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a health claim to promote foods containing barley and the Canadian industry is examining how we can do the same,” she said. “Food processors are aware of barley’s health benefits. Now they need technical and practical information so they can incorporate it into their products.”

The new food barley course will cover the nutritional, compositional and functional properties of the various types of barley grown in Canada, variety improvements by Canadian barley breeders, and barley marketing. Demonstrations will focus on barley milling and flour formulation, and use of barley ingredients in baking, tortillas, noodles, pasta and other products. For details on the nutritional and technical characteristics of food barley, visit www.cigi.ca .

CIGI, located in Winnipeg, is a non-profit market development organization dedicated to promoting Canada’s field crops in domestic and international markets through educational programming and technical activities. Core funding for CIGI is from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the CWB. Additional funds and support are provided by other sectors of the agriculture industry. Since 1972, CIGI has hosted 24,000 participants from 110 countries.

The CWB, controlled by western Canadian farmers, is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells grain to over 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to farmers.