418 



Mr. Parman. It was not even considered what they would do with 

 the output. They made some very bad mistakes. 



Mr. Lennon. Did they not have that experience in South Africa? 



Mr. Parman. The product they made down there I wouldn't call 

 fish protein concentrate. It was a slightly cleaned up fishmeal. You 

 could smell it about 10 feet off. 



Mr. Lennon. It was not acceptable ? 



Mr. Parman. It was not acceptable. 



Mr. Lennon. Therefore not successful there ? 



Mr. Parman. There is also a plant in Morocco put up by a bilateral 

 agreement with the Moroccan and French Governments which turned 

 out quite a bit of product until it was found that no one knew what to 

 do about marketing the output. The plant is idle at present. 



Mr. Lennon. Is there anywhere in the world today, any nation in 

 the world, I am sure you gentlemen would know, where fish protein 

 concentrate is widely accepted ? 



Mr. Parman. Not on a commercial basis. It has been widely used in 

 countries like Chile and Peru. There have been some interesting experi- 

 ments done with fish protein concentrate. They have got some very 

 interesting results but it is not used commercially. 



Mr. Lennon. We come back then to what you said originally, Mr. 

 Waters, If fish protein concentrate is produced here ; that is, blended 

 with wheat and other grains, AID proceeds through the Commodity 

 Credit Corporation for export overseas, that is about the only way 

 to create a market for it ? 



Mr. Waters. We see that as the most immediate way. Once we have 

 the acceptability and educational value that goes with such use, we 

 may develop other approaches to it. I have had discussions with rep- 

 resentatives of a number of other governments facing somewhat the 

 same problem. At a recent session of the FAO in Eome, Scandinavian 

 countries said they weje hoping to start some activities of this kind. 

 They ran into the same problem of trying to encourage other develop- 

 ing countries to accept a fish protein concentrate-type product. "If the 

 United States is not willing to accept this for its own use, we are not 

 convinced it is safe," they were told. 



There is an educational job yet to be done. That is why we feel that 

 we have to move a bit cautiously but we want to build a sound pro- 

 gram and not have it bogged down by some of the experiences of the 



tries made in the past. We are trying to 



Mr. Lennon. I take it then that you are going to be constrained in 

 encouraging construction of plants overseas, particularly in the areas 

 where this fish protein concentrate product is needed until such time 

 as it is marketable or at least acceptable, if not marketable? 



Mr. Waters. That is right. We want the demand itself to bring the 

 interest of fiiiancing the plants rather than just build plants and see 



if we can • 



Mr. Lennon. You have to sell the product before you can take the 

 risk of AID funds and fish protein concentrate plants overseas ? 

 Mr. Waters. That is right. 



Mr. Lennon. Plants are built here under the act passed last year, 

 and must meet FDA standards, as I understand it; is that correct? 

 Mr. Waters. That is right. 



