Four of the largest potato producers in Australia want to convert 100% of their potato waste into commercial benefit, through their partnership with the Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).

According to information published by the University of Adelaide, over the next three years, The Mitolo Group, Zerella Fresh, Thomas Foods International Fresh Produce, The South Australian Potato Company, together with the University of Adelaide and industry association Potatoes South Australia Inc, will invest nearly USD1m in this research and development, to save up to 100,000 tons of potatoes currently going to waste every year.

Professor Vincent Bulone from the University of Adelaide is leading this research project from his world-class analytical center for complex carbohydrate analysis, Adelaide Glycomics. The project is in line with the University’s industry engagement priority on agrifood and wine.

“There are different forms of starch in potatoes that can be used in different products. For example, existing research suggests that the less digestible starches in potatoes, the so-called ‘resistant starches’, can be used to make superior pre-biotics that help prevent infections. Another known starch component can be used to engineer low GI foods, and the skins of the potatoes themselves contain bioactives that can be used for a range of commercial products like nutraceuticals,” says Bulone.

Chief Executive of Potatoes South Australia Robbie Davis says that this is a fantastic opportunity for Australia, particularly South Australia as it is the largest potato growing state.

“We are seeing up to 40% of potatoes rejected because they do not meet retail specifications. At the same time Australia is importing 20,000 tons of potato starch each year, and it just doesn’t make sense that we’re not using these huge volumes of potatoes for alternative purposes,” she said.

A large focus of this project is the potential development of an Australian potato starch industry, which would provide additional revenue for Australian potato companies; potentially USD1000/ton for extracted starch instead of the current value of USD0-10/ton for the waste.

“Potato starch is used broadly across the food industry, for bioplastics and packaging, to coatings and adhesives. We also want to use the waste from the waste, so after extracting the potato starch, there will be further opportunities using the residual waste from this first stage,” says Davis.

Fight Food Waste CRC CEO Dr Steven Lapidge is thrilled to have such a transformational project underway so early in the Fight Food Waste CRC’s journey, and sees the partnership between all of the potato producers as a great example of what CRCs can achieve.

“We’re looking to develop new products from current waste streams that will deliver additional profit to potato producers through domestic and export sales,” says Lapidge.