Food Waste Valorisation

Wine production has been a regional business near vineyard. Nevertheless, it is highly dependent on the geographical and climate of an area, for places where climate is not suitable for the growth of wine grapes, production of grape wine is costly or unavailable. On the other hand, tropical countries with ample production of a variety of fruits have to deal with wastage and economical loss as unsold fruits rotten. Dragon fruit (also known as pitaya or pitahaya) is a widely cultivated in many Southeast Asian countries. It is commonly consumed fresh or used for juice and puree production. The processing of dragon fruit into clear juice is difficult on an industrial scale due to its significant content of mucilaginous polysaccharide substances present in the flesh. The present invention seeks to address these problems by providing a method to produce a dragon fruit-derived alcoholic beverage using non-Saccharomyces yeasts fermentation. The resultant red dragon fruit beverage has lower alcohol concentration, appealing red-purple colour, pleasant fruity taste and aroma with a high concentration of natural antioxidants from the flesh pigment (betalains).

In Singapore, at least 30 tonnes of okara are generated daily and discarded as food waste or recycled as an animal feed.  Despite its richness in nutrients, the reuse of okara as human food is limited due to high amount of indigestible fibre and low palatability.  The team has developed a cost-effective enzymatic and fermentaion techniques to transform okara as a functional ingredient for applying into food innovations.