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This family business presents the benefits of food supplements based on mucuna and moringa at the International Green Week in Berlin. The producer says that their brand differential is control of the production chain.
An African agricultural company is trying to enter the German and European markets. Matharia Empreendimentos is for the first time participating in the Green Week Berlin and has brought to the German capital food supplements produced from two vegetables grown in its own ‘machambas’ in Ribaué, Nampula province, including moringa leaf, dehydrated and processed to produce a powder and teas.
“The idea is to offer people wide range of forms of consumption in which the powder could be used, mixed with other foods – like yogurts, soups or fruit juices – and the tea would be to make an infusion,” explains Alexandre Santos, partner and general director of the Mozambican enterprise.
Superfoods
The company considers its product a ‘superfood’ because of the various benefits the leaf provides. In addition to being nutritious, moringa is also rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals such as iron, and has a high energy value.
“People start to feel an improvement in energy after just one month of regular consumption and this obviously affects the person’s emotional state in general. They experience enhanced mood and a better predisposition in their daily activities,” Santos says.
At Green Week, the company is launching a new product – Mucuna pruriens powder, also known as Florida bean. Rich in levodopa, mucuna contributes to increased dopamine production.
“It is a substance which helps improve motor coordination, and also improve concentration. It also affects the libido component, both in women and in men,” the company’s general director explains.
Support for patients
Mucuna can be used to support the treatment of Parkinson’s syndrome, which is characterised by a deficit of dopamine in the brain.
“The symptoms are treated with dopamine-based drugs and this is a natural source of dopamine. It is a product that is already widely used in Eastern culture in India, and now the Western world is beginning to wake up to this type of product. In the case of Parkinson’s Disease, it has very few or no side effects, compared to normal medication,” Alexandre Santos explains.
Despite health benefits, food supplements are not medicines.
“It is certainly not a medicine and, in the case of people with Parkinson’s, one would always have to use it with the doctor’s recommendation,” he clarifies.
But Santos guarantees that the benefits of mucuna and moringa are supported by scientific studies as well as their traditional use.
“On our website, we post published scientific works which people can research on their own, or even from there find other research,” Santos adds.
European market
At the moment, the products are only marketed in Mozambique and are not yet certified for marketing in Europe.
Berlin Green Week is the most important international fair for the food industry, agriculture and horticulture.
Alexandre Santos says that there are already products of this type in Europe, but he says his brand’s differential is that there are no intermediaries between the producer and the distributor.
“There is a long way round which, in reality, introduces ignorance about the origin and quality of the product. Our differential is that we want to bring the product directly to the customer. So, we produce, process and package, and thereby control most of the chain,” he concludes.
Producers and traders in the global agricultural industry are presenting and marketing their products during Green Week until the 26th of January.
By Cristiane Vieira Teixeira, in Berlin
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