A Filipino scientist is promoting the use of dragon fruit as an ingredient in functional foods, such as power drinks, because of its high antioxidant properties.
Dr. Eufemio Barcelon, a Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Balik Scientist Awardee (1996 to 1998) who is based in Australia, said the dragon fruit can be used in functional foods, particularly sports drinks, power drinks and pineapple mix.
Functional foods offer additional health benefits such as food fortification, probiotics, antioxidant properties, vitamins, folates as well as special performance in drinks.
Barcelon said the use of dragon fruit will also increase the income of local farmers and harness the full potential of land planted to dragon fruit in the provinces.
He said dragon fruit is high in fiber, rich in vitamin C, and contains antioxidant properties.
Barcelon said a Malaysian company has discovered that dragon fruit has bioactive components, particularly enzymes, in its flowers and leaves, which could be used in producing perfumes as well as other personal care products.
Barcelon, however, lamented that although dragon fruit is commonly grown in Cavite, Bataan and Davao, among other places, farmers there do not get to utilize its full potential as more than 40 tons of rejected dragon fruits are shipped back to them annually due to insect damage.
He said research and development on dragon fruit products would be a big boost to the agriculture and industry sectors as the country would not need to import the fruit.
Barcelon said research on postharvest pest and value-added technologies is also being proposed by the Cavite State University (CvSU).
“Innovation is the key to survive in the food sector,” he said.
Barcelon is proposing to conduct research and product development on innovative and functional foods, training, demonstration, and product promotion.
Barcelon said a P100,000-grant from the DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD) will jumpstart R&D on dragon fruit to be conducted by the CvSU.
The project aims to create products and processes, which would turn dragon fruit into jams, jellies, puree and flavored drinks. The grant also includes packaging and labeling of the products.
Barcelon is a research scientist of Manildra Group, a food company based in Melbourne, Australia.
His expertise includes food innovation, food packaging, design and labeling, and non-destructive test of the fruit using X-ray computed tomography.
Japan is the leading producer of functional foods, followed by European countries. – Helen Flores
Source: Philippine Star
Telstra buys video provider iVision - <a rel="nofollow"
ReplyDelete