Portable chemistry kit sweetens native bush fruit production

Professor Sultanbawa said this type of information was required to help understand the stability of the product, its suitability to be processed into a dehydrated powder, and to determine the type of packaging required.

“The toolkit has been designed to address these questions and will be tailored according to the needs of each Indigenous enterprise, depending on their current activities along the value chain.

“By ensuring consistently high-quality products, these enterprises are likely to get repeat, increased and new business, resulting in greater economic and social benefits delivered back into communities.

“Plus, the tool kit can be used to provide information on seasonality, growing conditions and plant physiology for Indigenous enterprises to own and share with future generations.”

The toolkit, developed by UQ’s Dr Anh Phan, was also supported by funding from the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia as part of the Australian Government’s CRC program, and can be used with any native bush fruit.

Djungan Paul Neal, Community Enterprise Developer at the Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council, whose community will house one of two chemistry test kits, said the kit empowered communities.

“We are interested in developing a commercially viable native foods industry, in partnership with industry and research organisations, that utilises traditional knowledge and science, and is led by Aboriginal people with governing intellectual property principles in place,” Mr Neal said.

All the intellectual property generated in these projects will be owned by Indigenous partners.

Professor Sultanbawa said the research team was investigating different sensing technologies communities could use on site to measure other key properties of their fruit, such as vitamin levels, traceability, and provenance.