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researcher â€" may have solution to food shortage Canada‘s promises â€" of food for the hungry nations of the world have been given a good deal of public attenâ€" tion lately. News media have also reported on some of the research by Dr. Murray Mooâ€"Young, Uniâ€" versity of Waterloo chemiâ€" cal engineering professor who has been studying the conversion of petroleum into protein, using yeasts. .. that is, by microbial action. The first stage of the Process, breaking down the paper into sugar. was the most difficult. he reports. While ‘he has turned the trick in his lab, Dr. Mooâ€" Young admits there are many problems to be solved before a large scale operaâ€" tion could be expected to become economic . An even more promising solution to world food probâ€" lems may consist of conâ€" verting wood and wood products into protein. Dr. Moo Young has done just that.: He â€"has put paper celâ€" lulose into a speciallyâ€"deâ€" signed fermenter and used a mold to degrade it into glucose, a sugar. He then cultivated a yeast which can live on the sugar, turnâ€" ing it into protein. jar "But."" he urges, "now is the time to do something about it." He is particularly conâ€" cerned about attempts to solve food problems by exporting grain. or even by the "green revolution." In fact. the green revolution may be making things worse since it refers primarily to improving grain crops which are high in starches and low in protein. He warns that protein deficienâ€" cy has been linked to brain damage and even mental reâ€" tardation. particularly when young people are inâ€" volved. Thus the people who are suffering most fromâ€" world food shortages may be the ones taking the greatest risk of mental reâ€" tardation. in the solution to their problems. Dr._ Mooâ€"Young _ says that the recent introduction of vegetable protein into foods _ (the _ soyaburgers. etc.) can only serve as a stopgap measure since it relies on rapidly decreasing. traditional agricultural products and since the supâ€" ply is highly variable (that is. crops_ are_ subject to ‘‘Celluloseâ€"source protein may provide the best solâ€" ution to the problem." he says. ‘‘*Mirrobes _ grow â€"~~10,000 times faster than catâ€" tle and 2.000 times faster than poultry. We can make veasts within one to four days and we can make them so they are safe. nutritious and pleasant to eat and for a small fraction of the cost of animal proâ€" tein." â€" Still, â€" with the energy crisis, occupying _ public attention. wood in the form of paper, sawdust, or a number of other structures might be a better source of protein. Moreover, forests are a "renewable resource." Then too there are some psychological ‘objections to using â€" petroleum; . some people just don‘t like the idea and others worry that such food may be cancerâ€" causing though the prodâ€" uct has already passed the most rcigorous safety tests. weather conditions). Microâ€" bial protein, whether it is to come from petroleum or wood, could be produced in controlled, manâ€"made facâ€" tories just as is the case in the production of beer or nylon or steel. As a byproduct, the develâ€" opment of this new technolâ€" ogy might even result in more efficient ways to clean up oil spills: Dr. _ Mooâ€"Young _ says that diverting as little as seven per cent of the world‘s current oil production to the production of microbial protein would provide all that would be needed to nuâ€" tritionally sustain the world‘s present population. He describes the natural taste of the protein he has "grown"" out of paper as ‘‘"malty,"" but basically so bland that by adding the apâ€" propriate â€" flavorings â€" he could make it taste "like anything you want, includâ€" ing a soft drink."‘ His protein, as it comes out of the fermenter. is flaky .. .something _ like a breakfast food. But Dr. Mooâ€"Young says it could be texturized"" to _ resemble a batch of hamburger. if desired. Dr. Mooâ€"Young‘s research which is multidisciplinary in nature. involvés a team of assistants. They are exâ€" perimenting with a variety of fermentation techniques including a "plug flow‘ * n e ies 19 fermentator which contrasts with traditional fermentaâ€" tion equipment used for example in the production of antibiotics, the contents of the "plug flow"‘ design do not get completely mixed up. The team members are working with a tubular ferâ€" menter design, as an alâ€" teémnative â€" to _ traditional stirredâ€"tanks. While Pr. Mooâ€"Young has been producing protein from paper. he and other memâ€" bers of the department are alert to other interesting possibilities. For instance, Dr. Murray Mooâ€"Young, University of Waterloo chemical engineering pro fessor, and coâ€"workers are seen with Japaneseâ€"made stirredâ€"tank type of fermentation unit, in campus lab. certain enzymes can change the glucose into fructose, rather than into protein. Fructose could be used to replace ordinary table suâ€" gar (sucrose) as a sweetenâ€" er in coffee, tea, candy and so forth and recent sugar price increases make this possibility * increasingly attractive. Two major problems are foreseen in connection with producing protein on _ a large scale (li.e. commerâ€" cially): (1) providing enough oxygen so that the microbes will grow properâ€" ly and (2) getting rid of the large amounts of heat that would be generated. "These are two critica‘ engineering problems which the scientist working in a lab would not normally enâ€" counter,"‘‘ he admits. He says he would like to see more interest in the subject on the part of Caâ€" nadians, noting that this country is particularly rich in both cellulose and petroâ€" leum. At present, these resources .are not being used efficiently, he points out. As a consequence, while it is true that virtually no one in Canada is sufferâ€" As yet, however, there has been little or no interâ€" est in Dr. Mooâ€"Young‘s work on the part of Canadâ€" ian industry, though he has been consulting for some very large industrial organizations in England France and Italy. ing from a_ lack of fuel for heating or transportation, or wood for various uses, millions _ elsewhere _ are dying from malnutrition or starvation. He can only cite the old saying about a prophet beâ€" ing *"‘without honour in his own country."