THE Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is currently testing the technology to extract pectin from mango peels in order to determine the viability of the process and acceptability of the pectin products under a pilot-scale level of operation.
PhilMech Executive Director Rex Bingabing said the results of the pilot testing would provide the agency the needed inputs to push for the commercialization of the pectin-extraction technology where mango peels are used as raw materials.
“Over the medium to long term, this will be very helpful for the pharmaceutical and food industries in the Philippines which still import their pectin requirements,” Bingabing said.
Pectin is a high-value product used as a gelling and thickening agent and as stabilizer by cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the country imported around 94,848.93 kilograms of pectin from various countries with a total custom value of $52.38 million, or P2.2 billion, in 2011 at an average landed cost of P27,000 per kilogram.
“Mango presents a better opportunity for the Philippines to produce pectin since the country’s mango farms have an output of around 884,000 metric tons per year,” the PhilMech chief said.
He noted that mango peelings from processors and restaurants are usually thrown away or composted with other food waste.
“Once commercialized, the local pectin-extraction technology would lessen the country’s reliance on imports for our supply of the product,” Bingabing said.
He said the pilot sites testing the locally developed pectin-extraction technology are in Cebu and Bulacan and are being undertaken in coordination with various agribusiness ventures that are interested in the new technology.
The pilot testing in Cebu is being undertaken by PhilMech in partnership with ProFoods International Corp., the biggest mango processor in the country, and Suki Trading Corp., a manufacturer of various agricultural and food-processing machinery and equipment.
The pilot testing in Bulacan is being undertaken by the agency with Green Ops Corp., a subsidiary of Monheim Group of Companies.
Green Ops produces tropical fruit concentrate and juices.
The expected output of the pilot plant in ProFoods is about 2 kilograms of mango pectin per batch, while Green Ops is aiming to produce a bigger output of about 8 kg to 10 kg of mango pectin per batch.
The push for commercializing the technology is an offshoot of a partnership effort between PhilMech and the Department of Science and Technology-Industry Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI) in 2012.
Bingabing said on that year, researchers from PhilMech and the DOST-ITDI led by Dr. Ma. Cristina B. Gragasin successfully developed a processing system for the production of pharmaceutical-grade pectin from mango peels.
The project garnered numerous awards from various scientific fora.
The utility model for the pectin production has Intellectual Property Registration 22013000466.
In the meantime, Bingabing said the local technology to extract pectin from mango peels is one of the technologies that will be exhibited during Postharvest week that will mark the founding anniversary of PhilMech.
It was on May 24, 1978, that the National Postharvest Institute for Research and Extension was founded, which evolved to Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension in 2010 and then to PhilMech.
Besides the pectin-extraction technology, PhilMech is also pilot testing in Camarines Sur the coconut water-extraction machine it developed, with commercial production to commence in June.
“The capacity of the coconut water-extraction machine is 2,000 coconuts per day, which will help coconut farmers in Camarines Sur improve their incomes,” Bingabing said.
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