ABSTRACT
As one of the cheapest sources of food energy, cassava should play a major role in meeting developing countries' rising consumption of both food and animal feed. Cassava is often regarded as a poor food with low nutritional value that is only consumed by subsistence farmers who have little else to eat. The nutritional role of cassava is as a cheap energy source, with other foods providing the necessary protein, vitamins, minerals, and fats. Raw cassava contains the glycosides linamarin and lotaustralin, which are converted to hydrocyanic, or prussic, acid, a poison, when they come in contact with linamarase, an enzyme that is released when the cells of cassava roots are ruptured. Cooking and processing otter some solution to two of the drawbacks of cassava—its toxicity and its perishability. The production of farinha is a traditional process to produce a meal from bitter cassava.
