Powder play to up Aussie veg intake

6th November 2020 | Eativity editors

Only seven percent of Australian adults and five percent of children are currently eating the recommended five serves of vegetables a day. At the same time, food waste costs the Australian economy $20 billion each year, with around twenty percent of all vegetables grown in Australia wasted before even hitting retail shelves. Now a new food manufacturing company has been formed by leading vegetable grower Fresh Select and Australia’s national science agency CSIRO to develop nutritious products from vegetables that might otherwise be thrown out to help people eat healthier and pioneer new sustainable farming practices.

Nutri V is commercialising CSIRO-patented technology to turn surplus Aussie-grown vegies into ingredients, products and supplements that lock in the vegetable’s natural colour and flavour. They also have enhanced nutritional content, thanks to CSIRO’s microencapsulation of healthy oils and gut health fermentation applications.

Sustainable, dairy- and gluten-free, Nutri V ingredients will help the environment as well as Australians looking to meet their daily vegetable intake.

By making the most of every part of every veg, Nutri V can reduce waste and boost nutrition.

Nutri V CEO John Said explains that Nutri V will produce a range of value-added ingredients from one hundred percent Australian-grown vegies, including highly nutritious powders and purées for use in a variety of applications such as food products or supplements.

“We’ll be able to minimise waste by using the entire crop to make powder,” Said says. “‘Ugly veg’, stems and leaves, not just the retail-fit parts. In the years to come, our planet needs to produce more with the same resources, and we see Nutri V as part of that solution.”

CSIRO scientist Dr Pablo Juliano says Nutri V is turning cutting-edge food science into products for all Australians to consume while also making a difference for the planet.

“We’ve been able to apply our expertise in creating nutrient-dense foods with innovative techniques to tackle the challenge of converting what might otherwise be lower value crops into foods with enhanced nutritional profile,” Dr Juliano says. “This is next-step innovation in plant-based ingredient and product technology.”

Fresh is best, and the people behind Nutri V don’t believe that these new ingredients should ever replace a fresh and healthy diet. Rather, Nutri V provides an opportunity to help consumers increase their vegetable intake quickly and easily.

“Nutri V sees this as an opportunity for the Australian food industry to increase the nutritional content of products to maximise the health of consumers,” Said says.

The first Nutri V products will be available soon. To learn more, head to nutriv.com.au