The “First Flour Festival”, organized by Scienza per Amore and the Association Volontari Capitano Ultimo Onlus was held at the Tenuta della Mistica in Rome on September 21, 2014. The event was an opportunity to share the commitment to solidarity common to the two Associations.

The festival was dedicated to the flours derived from HYST treatment, food products rich in protein, vitamins and other micronutrients such as iron and zinc.

Due to its characteristics, HYST technology form the basis of the cooperation project Bits of Future: Food for All, sponsored by Scienza per Amore, whose goal is to provide free HYST units to the African countries concerned.

The Flour Festival was attended by about 500 people, including representatives of major companies of the food sector, of civil society and of the Embassies of Somalia, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Enjoying a pleasant atmosphere of sharing, guests were finally able to taste the delicious products made with the high-protein HYST flour: bread, pasta, pizza and pastries that the members of Scienza per Amore intend to offer to all countries of the world.

In the morning, Pier Paolo Dell’Omo (President of Scienza per Amore and Professor of Technical Physics at La Sapienza University of Rome) illustrated the nutritional characteristics of HYST flours as well as their importance within contexts of malnutrition: “In the world millions of people die because of nutritional deficiencies, iron deficiencies, vitamin A deficiencies. With this system, we have already produced – gaining the approval of the competent Ministries – supplements from common meadow plants. With one teaspoon of stinging nettle extract per day you can save a human life, and it takes us 10 minutes to produce 200-300 teaspoons of this supplement“.

Colonel Ultimo (Colonel of the Carabinieri Police Force and Deputy Commander of the NOE – Operational Unit for Environmental Protection) and Danilo Speranza (creator of the project Bits of Future) fully captured the spirit of the day:

“Among us today we have authoritative representatives of African countries and in them we see the people of Africa,” the Colonel said “we see the injustices perpetrated against the people of Africa. […] Injustices made to their people are injustices made to us, and in this we are, and we will always be brothers, I love you all“.

“After more than 15 years of pursuing this project,” said Danilo Speranza “together with friends we finally reached an important moment. This festival, with this food, should take place in all the countries of the world where people suffer from hunger. […] We will strive to have more and more festivals and produce more and more HYST units for everyone.”

H.E. Mussa Hassan Abdulle, Ambassador of the Somali Republic to Italy thanked the speakers and reminded the audience of the obstacles that still prevent the full implementation of this project: “These products are very useful to us Africans, especially where there is the problem of hunger and malnutrition. We are very pleased to receive these machines. […] We hope. They tell us that there are difficulties to export these machines. I do not want to go into details (though I know them), but we hope that before long the problem that is preventing exportation of these machines to Africa will be overcome.”

It is 5 years now that Scienza per Amore is being prevented from donating HYST units and from helping those who suffer from hunger. “You all know the history behind the legal proceedings” said Daniele Lattanzi (Head of Institutional Relations in Italy and abroad) – We were charged because they said that there was no project and no HYST unit […]. Words aside, it’s the facts that matter, and these are the facts that we’re putting on the table, as well as the authoritative opinions of accredited bodies.”

On Monday, September 22, in fact, the first part of the preliminary court hearing related to the HYST technology was held in Rome.

At the hearing, which will continue on October 13, an interim report of the expert appointed by the Public Prosecutor was filed together with a request to postpone the delivery of the final version and the appointment of an expert nutritionist.

As a preliminary step, the lawyers of the Association filed the expert advice of Prof. Emanuele Marconi (Full Professor of Food Science and Technology and Director of the Department of Agriculture Environment and Food – University of Molise).

In relation to the fractions produced by the HYST system, the expert noted that: “they can be used directly as food and/or food supplements and as ingredients for the development of foods with high nutritional value“. Regarding the suitability of the HYST to be used in cooperation projects, Prof. Marconi continued: “The system “Hyst” also lends itself to be used in enhancing agricultural resources/raw materials and by-products of and for developing countries to get ingredients/foods high in nutritional value able to counteract various nutritional deficiencies.”

This is further confirmation of the success of decades of investment in scientific research on the part of the members of Scienza per Amore.

While in Italy there is still no intention to accept the value of HYST technology, Bits of Future has received great interest from the Commission for Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) of the African Union, and has recently been presented at the Second Africa Dry Lands Week in Chad. New African countries have officially joined the project, and are now involving the Italian institutions in order to accelerate the start of the project in Africa. All the members of Scienza per Amore are organizing a new Flour Festival that will be extended to all the countries of the world who are in need of what HYST can offer.

May Bits of Future be, in the near future, a reality in every country of the world…