The issue of childhood obesity will be tackled by a Welsh consortium that has secured £350,000 of research and development funding to use apples in an innovative way. The funding from Welsh Government’s Food and Drink Division and Innovate UK’s Small Business Research Initiative will be used to develop a method of replacing sugar and saturated fat in a range popular food items with apple pomace, a by-product of apple juice and cider production.
“We are using Welsh apple pomace as a food ingredient with functional fibres which can improve the nutritional composition of foods that are particularly enjoyed by children whilst reducing cost,” said Dr Jonathan Hughes, managing director of Pennotec.
Food manufacturers, school caterers and people in their own kitchens will be benefiting from the advantages of using the food ingredient that is being developed.
“Apple pomace is a wonderful natural ingredient and we’ve discovered that it can be used to replace certain high-calorie ingredients such as fat while enhancing the fibre content in popular school menu food items such as cakes, savoury dishes, gravy and sauces,” said Dr Hughes. “A key aim of the project is to make food and drink healthier and cheaper without sacrificing the flavour. It also intends to address the global issue of food wastage by making use of apple pomace which would usually be disposed of, bringing a number of environmental and cost benefits.”
Part of the project were the sustainable food technology specialist Pennotec, based in Pwllheli, which has collaborated with Bangor University’s BioComposites Centre, Coleg Menai’s Food Technology Centre and Cork company CyberColloids.
Research shows that more than 40% of children in Wales are either overweight or obese by the age of 11. The majority of these obese children then grow up to be obese adults, putting then at an increased risk of developing heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
“Like the rest of the UK and Europe, Wales generates thousands of tonnes of surplus fresh food resources like apples, a rich source of natural fibres that never make it to the supermarket shelves because they are out-graded, surplus to requirements or are processed and only partly utilised,” explained Dr Adam Charlton of Bangor University’s BioComposites Centre. “In this project we are targeting the potential to use apple pomace to provide the texture for food instead of high calorie ingredients such as fat.”
