DES MOINES, IOWA, U.S. — Insta-Pro International of Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., and General Mills, Inc., in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., recently announced their newly formed partnership. The companies said the partnership supports the work General Mills is doing in Africa that links the technical and business expertise of volunteer employees at General Mills to small- and medium-sized mills and food processors in Africa.

General Mills’ goal is to improve the ability of those African companies to produce high-quality, nutritious and safe food at affordable prices and increase demand for the crops of small farmers who supply these businesses. Insta-Pro International, a technology leader in low-cost, high-shear extrusion, said it has had a presence in Africa for over 20 years, creating a tremendous fit with this General Mills initiative.

With this partnership, Insta-Pro International said it will encourage clients and prospects to take advantage of General Mills expertise, provide technology consultation, and provide high-quality equipment and support.

Kevin Kacere, president and chief executive officer of Insta-Pro International, said, "Insta-Pro International has been successful for many years, providing food and feed processing solutions which meet the needs of many producers in these African countries. We are pleased to partner with General Mills, providing the equipment and know-how to use within General Mills’ volunteer initiative to assist small- to medium-sized processors in Africa. In addition, we are happy to provide General Mills with the assistance to expand their initiative through the many current relationships we have in Africa and with future marketing of this initiative."

Likewise, General Mills will encourage its African partners to use Insta-Pro equipment when appropriate, and is working with Insta-Pro in research and development of new food products focused in Africa.

John Mendesh, vice-president, research and development and acting Africa project lead, said, "General Mills has a mission to nourish lives in Africa. We are seeing results, but we have so much more we can accomplish. A key to this growth is finding the right technology partner to assist us, and our research of the right supplier of this technology brought us to Insta-Pro. We are integrating the experienced Insta-Pro staff with our extrusion team to assist our partner producers with their extrusion and other processing needs."

General Mills and Insta-Pro both share the long-term goal to build self-sustaining food capabilities with the people of Africa while improving local economies.