Oct 18, 2004USDA Buys 4.8 Million Pounds of Dehy Flakes
The USDA announced Sept. 21 the purchase of 4.8 million pounds of dehydrated potato flakes (dehy) for shipment to Moldova under the fiscal year 2004 McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program.
The USDA purchased the dehy nearly $1.9 million. The flakes will be provided to the International Partnership for Human Development (IPHD), the largest USDA-sponsored food for education program in the world. This U.S. private voluntary organization reaches almost 90 percent of all school children in Moldova and has provided meals for 300,000 school children in Moldova every year for the past three years. This is the second year IPHD included U.S. dehy in their feeding program.
The International Food Assistance Initiative is funded by the USPB and some state grower organizations. It works on behalf of the U.S. potato industry to expand the use of U.S. dehy in international food aid programs. Over the past four years it has introduced dehydrated potato products to almost 1 million new consumers in 13 countries worldwide. Since 2001 the US government has purchased a total of 16,236,000 pounds of U.S. dehy – or 1.1 million cwt. Of fresh potatoes – to use in international food aid programs.
