Can unwanted fruit and byproducts from juice and wine be transformed into new sustainable foods?

That’s the question being investigated by a team led by University of Auckland Professor of Food Science Siew-Young Quek.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has granted $3 million over three years to the Waipapa Taumata Rau researchers to develop new foods from horticultural byproducts.

Colleagues at the Singapore Institute of Technology have also received a grant to develop new foods from mushroom biomass, in another branch of the project.

Quek says the quest to develop new, natural foods from unwanted fruit is driven by the need to create more environmentally sustainable food systems.

In New Zealand, about 100,000 tonnes of fruit byproducts are thrown away each year, leading to greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution and landfill burden.

Quek and her team want to transform this unwanted fruit into bacterial cellulose, which could be used to create new food products or ingredients that increase the nutritional value of existing foods.

Food production in New Zealand is not environmentally sustainable at present, she says.

“The agricultural sector is the main contributor to greenhouse gases in New Zealand – about 48 percent of our greenhouse gases come from dairy and farming.

“Concerns about climate change and population growth spurred the science community to start looking at how we can reduce the carbon footprint of our food systems and make them more sustainable.

“From there, we started discussing what the future food system should look like,” says Quek, who is editor-in-chief of the Future Foods journal, director of the Faculty of Science’s Future Food Research Centre, and works with the Centre for Climate, Biodiversity and Society.

Key players in the science team include University of Auckland Professor Paul Kilmartin, Dr Billy Yang and Dr Rebecca Deed, working alongside Shan Yi from engineering and Massey University researchers.

Professor Michael Lee from the University’s Business School will test consumer responses to the products.

While some might feel hesitant about eating foods dreamed up in a lab, Quek says the new food will have no synthetic additives and could have health benefits.

The researchers are collaborating with industry partners to make sure the products created in the lab can be commercialised.

The Singapore team is using the extensive root-like structure of mushrooms, called mycelium, to create high-protein, nutrient-rich vegetarian products.

Compounds called beta-glucans which are derived from edible mushrooms are known for their prebiotic, immune system boosting, and anti-inflammatory properties.

“In Singapore, there isn’t enough land, so they need to develop methods to produce food that doesn’t need so much land.

“A fermenter can be used to grow mycelium, so that could produce food in a small space,” Quek says.

The Singapore team will conduct a clinical trial on the most promising new food, while the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in New Zealand will evaluate its potential health benefits.

“My dream over many years has been to use unwanted food to create a future food that has health benefits for people and is better for the planet. Getting funding for this project feels like a huge step towards that,” says Quek.