Arroyo launches vegetable-enriched canton noodles

MANILA, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday launched the "Proud Harvest" vegetable-enriched pancit canton noodles at the Dagonoy Public Market in San Andres Bukid in Manila. In a report, QTV’s Balitanghali showed Arroyo distributing to the public samples of the squash-enriched noodle, a product of Benguet State University (BSU) and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology. The noodles in 250-gram packs is the first commercial scale vegetable-enriched product of Concepcion's Republic Flour Mills (RFM) Corp., said Jose Concepcion III, presidential consultant on entrepreneurship. The Balitanghali report also quoted palace officials as saying the noodles are now available in markets in some provinces in Northern Luzon and in Metro Manila. Cerge Remonde, head of the President Management Staff, said the noodles are expected to be available at the government's "Tindahan Natin" outlets next month. Small-scale processors have also contributed to the research project under the BSU’s "Benguet Vegetable Processing Center Project," which was funded by the President's Social Fund, Remonde said. Last Holy Week, President Arroyo released P10 million in financial assistance to establish the vegetable processing center when she visited La Trinidad in Benguet province. The processing center will convert fresh agricultural produce from the region into high quality processed food. The project is expected to reduce post-harvest losses, increase income of farmers, provide entrepreneurial assistance to small-scale noodle processors and provide affordable and nutritious foodstuffs for the consumer public, especially the poor. Noodle production became a priority of the BSU following the Arroyo's directive last March to mass produce the product and help cushion the impact of soaring food and fuel prices, said Remonde. He said the project also tapped the assistance of Monde Nissin and other government agencies like the National Food Authority (NFA) and Philippine Information Agency (PIA) for continuous product development as well as assistance in distributing and promoting vegetable noodles. - GMANews.TV