This document summarizes a 3-day training on wheat processing and wheat-based food product development held in Ethiopia. The training objectives were to popularize wheat-based foods, evaluate major wheat varieties, and promote healthy diets. 20 female agricultural agents from various regions participated. The training included presentations on wheat and food processing, demonstrations of making bread, injera and other products from 8 wheat varieties, and sensory evaluations. Participants reported learning about new foods and gaining skills to help their communities. The overall training was deemed a success.

1. ETHIOPIAN INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
A training report on
wheat processing
and wheat based
Food Product
Development
Organized by:
Agricultural Quality Research Laboratory in
collaboration with SARD-SC Wheat Project
D E C E M B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 5 T O J A N U A R Y 0 2 , 2 0 1 6 , A D D I S A B A B A

2. 1. Introduction
Wheat (Triticum sp.) is one of the major cereals grown in the mid to high altitude zones,
covering most parts of the world, from near-arctic to near-equatorial latitudes. It is one of the
world’s most important staple food crops and the most important crop among the cereals by area
planted and is followed in importance by corn, barley and sorghum. Of the grains available for
the production of flour, wheat is unique. It is the only cereal grain with sufficient gluten content
to make a typical loaf of bread without being mixed with other grains.
There are different wheat species in Ethiopia, including, T. aestivum, T. turgidum, T. durum, T.
polonicum, T. carthlicum, T. atheopicum, and T. dicoccum. The different wheat types are grown
for special purposes or end use products. End use qualities of different varieties of crops and
socio-cultural life styles of farming communities influence the survival and/or conservation of
landraces. Diverse food types are the results of different landraces of different food crops which
contain different end use qualities.
In this training, evolving few female agricultural development agents, home-made wheat based
food products were processed and produced from flour of whole wheat. In addition to being a
common trend in the country, use of whole wheat in the training was due to the known benefits
associated with disease prevention and prebiotic potential. It was also a wise idea to engage
women for better popularization and distribution of the technologies.
Wheat based food products have been consumed locally for many generations in Ethiopia. Each
region/tribe in Ethiopia has its own practices, beliefs and attitudes relating to these foods. Some
of them are common in some areas while not known in other part of the country. Creating an
opportunity for experts from different socio-cultural setting to come together and share their
practice is a prior attention in order to influence mal-nutrition. Therefore, the training had the
following major objectives:
Objectives of the training
 To popularize development of wheat based food products
 To evaluate product making quality of major wheat varieties in Ethiopia
 To enhance utilization of wheat and promote appropriate dietary pattern and healthy life
styles

3. 2. Trainers and Facilitators
No Name Profession/position Research Center
1 Dr. Tolesa Debele SARD-SC Coordinator EIAR, Head Office
2 Tamirat Kore Food Science Researcher EIAR, Debre Zeit Center
3 Roman Getachew Food Processing Expert EIAR, Jima Center
4 Dr. Rehima Mussema Gender Coordinator EIAR, Head Office
5 Bilatu Agza Food Science Researcher
and Coordinator
EIAR, Head Office
3. Trainees
Representative female trainees were selected from innovation platform site of SARD-SC
(Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops) wheat project; Sinana,
Gololcha, Shebelbernta, Enemay, Ofla and Gedebano Gutazer Wellene districts of Oromia,
Amhara, Tigray and SNNP regions (Appendices 2).
4. Wheat based food product development
The training had
theoretical and practical
sessions. In a half day
presentation, wheat
processing and different
product preparation
procedure and nutritional
impact of each processing
step was addressed.
Moreover, each region of
Ethiopia has its own
practices, beliefs and attitudes relating to these foods. Some of them are common in some areas
while not known in other part of the country and experience sharing was also part of this session.
Whereas, for all practical aspects including physical parameter measurements (Test weight and

4. gluten content) and different food products development allocated two and half days.
In practical session the following major products prepared:
Bread / Difo-dabo
Wheat's Injera
Wheat and soybean
bread (85:15) Sanbusa

5. Pasta (processed by local device)
Cookies of wheat and soybean (85:15)
Dabo-kolo Shekek (wheat flour with butter)
Cookies of wheat
Dabo-kolo (wheat and soybean)

6. 5. Sensory evaluation of bread and injera from 8 wheat varieties
Bread (difo-dabo) and Injera of
the 8 wheat varieties were
prepared and their sensory
acceptability is evaluated by the
participants. A sensory panel
consisting of 20 trainees and
training facilitators evaluated each
product using a 5-point hedonic
scale to rate for appearance/color,
taste/flavor, texture and overall
acceptability, representing a score of 1 for “dislike extremely” and 5 for “like extremely”. The
mean scores given by the sensory panel of bread and Injera are presented in table 1 and 2. The
average sensory score of breads from different varities indicated the acceptability of the products
without showing clear difference
between bread wheat and durum
wheat type. Whereas, UTUBA,
MADDA-WALABU and DIGALU
varieties were considerably better
in injera making quality. Use of
wheat for injera purpose is
becoming a common trend in some
parts of the country usually by
mixing with teff in different
proportion. By considering
nutritional and sensory quality determining best proportion of these two grain needs research.

7. Table 1. Sensory evaluation of breads from different wheat varieties
No Wheat variety
name
Variety
type
Appearance/
color
Flavor/
taste
Texture Overall
acceptability
1 MADDA-WALABU Bread 3.8 3.6 3.5 3.8
2 DIGALU Bread 4.4 4.2 4.4 4.5
3 SOFUMAR Bread 4.3 4.1 4.3 4.5
4 DANDA'A Bread 3.0 3.2 3.2 3.2
5 UTUBA Durum 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.2
6 MANGUDO Durum 3.3 3.6 3.4 3.4
7 BAKALCHA Durum 3.6 3.2 3.4 3.2
8 UDE Durum 4.4 4.2 4.4 4.5
Table 2. Sensory evaluation of Injera from different wheat varieties
No Wheat variety
name
Variety
type
Appearance/
color
Flavor/
taste
Texture Overall
acceptability
1 MADDA-WALABU Bread 4.2 3.1 3.8 3.6
2 DIGALU Bread 4 3.7 3.5 3.4
3 SOFUMAR Bread 2.3 2.7 2.4 2.8
4 DANDA'A Bread 1.8 2 1.7 2.1
5 BAKALCHA Durum 1.7 2.2 2 2.1
6 UTUBA Durum 4.1 3.9 3.9 3.9
7 UDE Durum 2.4 2.4 2.7 2.5
8 MANGUDO Durum 2.3 2.6 2 2.4

8. 6. Training Evaluation
Finally, trainees were invited to evaluate their stay with an open discussion and by distributing
training evaluation form to 17 trainees. According to the analysis result all trainees agreed that
the training had a clear objective, timely and the trainers had enough knowledge. However, few
claimed that time given to the training was not enough and some food processing materials were
lacking.
No
Evaluation question
Score
No Yes
1 2 3 4 5 Total
1 የስልጠናው አላማ ግልጽና አስፈላጊ ነው (The training objective is clear and
important) 17*
100%
2 ስልጠናው ወቅቱን የጠበቀ ነው (The training is timely) 1 1 15 94%
3 ለስልጠናው የተሰጠ ሰዓት በቂ ነው (Time given to the training is enough) 4 2 11 79%
4 አሰልጣኞት ጥሩ እውቀት አላቸው እውቀታቸውም ለማካፈል ፈቃደኛ ናቸው (Trainers
have good knowledge and are open to share) 1 16 99%
5 እኔ ከስልጠናው ጥሩ እውቀት አግኝቻለሁኝ ለወደፊትም ይጠቅመኛል (I learn a lot
from the training and help me in my future carer) 17 100%
6 ለስልጠናው የቀረቡ ግብዓቶች በቂ ነበሩ (Training supplies were enough) 1 2 14 93%
7 በአጠቃላይ ስልጠናው ውጤታማ ነበረ (The training was sucessful) 1 16 99%
Total score 94.8%
*total number of respondents who replied 5

9. Appendices 1. Schedule of wheat-based food product development training
31 December 2015 – 2 January 2016, EIAR, Addis Ababa
Time Topic Resource person
Day 1 Thursday 31 December
08:30-09:00 Registration SARD-SC
09:00-09:10 Welcome statements Dr. Tolessa D., Coordinator,
SARD-SC
09:10-09:20 Opening remarks Ato Sololmon Abate, Director,
Agricultural and Nutrition
Research Laboratories
09:20-09:30 Introduction of participants SARD-SC
09:30-10:00 Overview of progress/achievements of SARD-SC wheat
project
Dr. Tolessa D., Coordinator,
SARD-SC
10:00-10:30 Role of Gender and Food Processing in Wheat Production Dr. Rehima Mussema,
Coordinator, Gender
10:30-11:00 Group photo and tea/coffee SARD-SC Wheat Project
11:00-12:30 Presentation on wheat processing and food product
development
Mr. Tamirat Kore
12:30-13:00 Discussion Participants
13:00-14:00 Lunch break SARD-SC
14:00-14:30 Agricultural quality research laboratory visit Legesse Shiferaw
14:30-15:00 Gluten determination: manually (Practical) Trainees
15:00-15:30 Hectoliter weight/test weight measurment (practical) Trainees
15:30-16:00 Coffee/tea break SARD-SC
16:00-16:40 Macaroni processing by home-scale device
(Demonstration)
Trainers
16:40-17:00 Injera' dough preparation from 8 wheat varieties Trainees
19:00-21:00 Training dinner SARD-SC
End of day 1

10. Day 2 Friday 1 January
08:30-09:00 Recap of day 1 Participants
09:00-09:30 Bread dough preparation from 8 wheat varieties Trainees
09:30-10:30 Injera making from 8 wheat varieties (practical) Trainees
10:30-11:00 Coffee/Tea break SARD-SC
11:00-12:30 Sensory evaluation of wheat injera (Practical) Participants
12:30-13:30 Lunch break SARD-SC
13:30-15:30 Anebabero preparation and evaluation Trainees
15:30-16:00 Coffee/Tea break SARD-SC
16:00-11:00 Sensory evaluation of bread from 8 wheat varieties
(practical)
Participants
End of day 2
Day 3 Saturday 2 January
08:30-09:00 Recap of day 2 Participants
09:00-10:00 Processing of Cookies, Dabo-kolo and Sanbusa
(practical)
Trainees
10:00-10:30 Coffee/Tea break SARD-SC
10:30-12:30 Processing of Cake, Melewa, Hibist and others Trainees
12:30-13:30 Lunch break SARD-SC
13:30-15:00 Evaluation of all wheat based recipes developed Trainees
15:00-15:30 Coffee/Tea break SARD-SC
15:30-17:00 Feed backs and closing remarks Dr. Tolessa
End of the training and adjourn

11. Appendices 2. List of participants
No. Name Region District
1 Asnakech Kebede Oromia Gololcha
2 Eskadar Bekele Oromia Gololcha
3 Etsegenet Birhanu Oromia Gololcha
4 Yitayish Fekadu Amhara Shebel-berenta
5 Banchiayehu Tibebu Amhara Shebel-berenta
6 Yitayish Abeje Amhara Shebel-berenta
7 Neima Abdo Oromia Sinana
8 Munteha Muhamud Oromia Sinana
9 Fatuma Muhamud Oromia Sinana
10 Lemlem Gessese Tigray Ofla
11 Tiamiti Gebru Tigray Ofla
12 Eleni Sharew Tigray Ofla
13 Adanech Meles Amhara Enemay
14 Tenagne Dagne Amhara Enemay
15 Sheshye Munye Amhara Enemay
16 Rehima Regassa SNNP Gedabano
17 Sadiya Hussein SNNP Gedabano
18 Anchinesh Mamo Addis Ababa Addis Ababa
19 Hana Tamirat Addis Ababa Addis Ababa
20 Zemed Zewdu Addis Ababa Addis Ababa