How it began
Incaparina was developed at the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), based in Guatemala City. Its researchers, among them Ricardo Bressani, R. L. Squibb, Moisés Béhar and Nevin Scrimshaw, began with poultry feed studies in the late 1940s and early 1950s and moved on to vegetable mixtures for people, numbered Mixture 8 and then Mixture 9. A first commercial attempt was made in the late 1950s with Grace and Company. After that firm withdrew, the brewery Cervecería Centro Americana, and later Alimentos S.A., began production in 1960.
Before it existed
The product was aimed at young children and other groups with nutritional deficiencies in Central America. INCAP set out to develop a relatively low-cost vegetable protein food from locally available ingredients. Cottonseed flour was chosen because its protein was an excellent complement to the amino acid pattern of maize protein, and the result was meant to do the nutritional work of milk at a fraction of the price.
How it works
INCAP Vegetable Mixture 9 contained 38 percent cottonseed flour, 58 percent maize flour, 3 percent torula yeast and 1 percent calcium carbonate, with added vitamin A. The yeast was later replaced by a mixture of B vitamins, niacin, iron and added lysine. The blend had 27.5 percent crude protein. The mixtures were tested in clinical trials before release and were described by INCAP as low-cost, all-vegetable mixtures with over 25 percent protein, intended for the prevention of protein malnutrition.
How it spread
INCAP granted concessions to industries in other countries. Related formulas were produced under other names, including Bienestarina and Vitatol, and Mixture 14 was made in Bolivia from 1978 as Maisoy. Later versions of the Guatemalan product also used soy flour.
Where it stands today
Incaparina has been in continuous production since 1960. Follow-up studies in the 1970s and 1980s found that consumption was still rising across Guatemala, where it is eaten daily in many households. Its cost has remained about one third that of an equivalent amount of milk.
