CSIR develops technology to process peanut spread
The Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed a technology for the processing of peanut spread for the local and international markets.
The Peanut Collaboration Research Support for Peanut (CRSP) project, implemented by the Food Research Institute of the CSIR, led to the development of the Natural Choco-Peanut Spread, a product with no detectable aflatoxins, which makes it ideal for the international market, especially in Europe and the American market.
Aflatoxins are moles that grow on food not stored properly. Aflatoxins are toxic and among the most carcinogenic (capable of causing cancer) substances known.
The Peanut CRSP project, which was spearheaded by the Food Research Institute (FRI), was instructive because peanut butter, grains, cooking oils and cosmetics had been identified as the most common products contaminated with aflatoxin. Therefore, the international market is vigilant on such products.
Working under the CRSP, a grant project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the FRI partnered CBA Foods, a small-scale agro-processing company, to develop the groundnut-chocolate spread which has tolerable levels of saflatoxin in foods.
“CBA Foods expressed the interest of having the peanut spread to add to its range of products. We started the research in 2011 and here we have the product which meets standards in the EU, the USA and any part of the world,” a Research Scientist at the FRI and the Principal Investigator for the CRSP project, Mr Charles Diako, said.
He stressed that the use of industrial research in such manner was the right partnership needed between industry and research institutions to ensure accelerated shared economic growth which created employment.
Mr Diako said the Natural Choco-Peanut Spread was unique on the market due to the unique technology used in sorting the peanut before it was grounded, which prevented aflatoxin levels to rise beyond tolerable levels.
The Co-ordinator of the CRSP Project, Mr Gregory Komlaga, also a research scientist at FRI, said the project was collaboration with the University of Georgia, USA, the principal implementers of the USAID grant.
He said the project involved two models of aflatoxin elimination and product development. He said the combination would ensure that research work did not end up only on the shelves to gather dust but rather implemented, packaged and marketed.
Mr Komlaga said the successful elimination of the mole to acceptable levels would automatically give the product a boost on international markets, including the USA and EU markets.
The Managing Director of CBA Foods, Ms Comfort Badu Aggrey, hailed the breakthrough and vowed she would go the extra mile to promote the product on the local and international markets.
She said although the elimination of aflatoxin itself was a license to market in advanced markets, she would first explore the local market to test the resilience of the product and the response.
Source: Daily Graphic