Scientists in Mexico develop a tortilla for people without fridge. world News

Mexico: Grievances through a microscope, food scientists study raquel gomez microorganisms that add nutrients and preserve the tortillus for several weeks without a refrigerator – a luxury in Mexican communities.The humble Tortilla is a Mexican staple, from the northern deserts of the Latin American nation to its tropical southern forest, every day is consumed by millions of people and other dishes.Most people from Mexico buy fresh corn tortillus from small neighborhood shops.Gomez and wheat flour version developed by Gomez and his team includes probiotics – live microorganisms found in yogurt and other fermented foods.Along with nutritional benefits, fermented material means that the tortilla can be kept for one month without any refrigeration, according to its creators, is much longer than a homemade.This “Gomez, Professor Gomez of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), was developed in his laboratory, keeping in mind the weakest people.According to official data, about 14 percent of children suffer from chronic malnutrition in Mexico.In indigenous communities, the figure is about 27 percent.UnculturedTortila developed by Gomez is not yet commercially available, but it can benefit people such as Teresa Sanchez.The 46 -year -old housewife smoke meat using a wooden walls and a wooden stove with a metal roof in her house.Like most of his neighbors in the city of Oxchuk in the southern state of Chiapus, Sanchez has no refrigerator, so it uses methods assigned by its indigenous tzelttal ancestors.“My mother taught me and grandparents always do this way,” she told AFP.“If there is no money, where are you going to get a refrigerator?”Chiaps has less than two-thirds of people, a poverty-affected area with a large indigenous population, a refrigerator-the lowest among the 32 states of Mexico.According to official estimates, the average maximum temperature in Chiapas was 30.1 to 32 degrees Celsius between 2014 and 2024.Half its area is considered sensitive to climate change.While Oxchuk is located in a hill, temperate region, the lack of refrigerators forces its inhabitants to rely on traditional food protection methods.“We wonder what we are going to eat and how many of us are. We boil it, and if something is left, we boil it again, “said Sanchez.Sometimes the meat is salty and is left to dry under the sun.Tortilus is stored in containers made from tree bark.For that reason, the shops for bare requirements only, although its budget is limited anyway.“I don’t have enough money to buy things,” he said.no preservativesHe said that Gomez and his team uses prebiotics-who are mainly found in high-fiber foods-to feed theobiotic cultures and produce beneficial compounds for health, he said.Thanks to the fermented material, the laboratory developed not required any artificial protector in the developed Tortilla, Gomez said.This is another benefit because such additives have potential toxic effects, said Guillermo Artga, a researcher at the University of Sonora.One of the most commonly used adatives in processed wheat flour is Calcium propionate, which is considered harmful to the microbiota of the colon, Artga said.Although her Tortilla is made of wheat flour – a type eaten mainly in northern Mexico – Gomez does not exclude using the same method for corn tortylus, which is preferred by people in many Mexico, but may quickly deteriorate in high temperatures.Researchers patented their Tortila in 2023. UNAM signed a contract with a company for food marketing, but the agreement was reached.Gomez, who won an award from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property in December, still expects to find partners to distribute their torties.He is confident that even though he was developed in a laboratory, consumers still want to eat them.