Curitiba – Brazil processes only 30% of the products that it ships abroad, whereas other countries, such as China, export up to 98% of their products with high added value. As a result, Brazil exports raw grain at a price much lower than what the processed product would be sold for.
To address the matter, researchers are attending the 4th International Congress of Food Industry Bioprocesses (ICBF, in the Portuguese acronym), which started this Tuesday (5th) in Curitiba. They agree that this situation occurs due to lack of investment in research.
At the ICBF 2010 which is being held in a Latin American country for the first time, organized by the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and the Brazilian Society of Food Science and Technology in Paraná (SBCTA), approximately 1,300 participants are discussing studies that will impact on end consumers.
According to the president of the ICBF, Carlos Ricardo Soccol, Brazil is capable of becoming the granary of the world, so long as there are favourable conditions, namely investment in research and innovation in the agrifoods industry. "For the sake of illustration, one kilogram of soy exported through Brazilian ports is sold for 0.20 real (US$ 0.12), whereas a kilogram of the same soy enriched with bioactive hormones, which brings many benefits to human health, may sell for 1,000 reals (US$ 592)," he said.
According to him, there is a consensus among the scientists attending the congress that the country gives priority "to exporting basic goods, failing to create jobs and to collect taxes, and risking its technological sovereignty. In pharmaceutical sector imports alone, the Unified Healthcare System (SUS) spends approximately 5 billion reals (US$ 2.9 billion) per year," he warns.
According to Soccol, scientists bring patents to the congress that may be transferred to the productive sector. "Through this coming together between researchers and industry, UFPR scientists alone are going to make about 20 of the institution’s patented research works available, and these may represent improvements in the health of humanity, in addition to fighting world hunger."
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
