Developing a food safety roadmap for commercialising Cumbungi

Title: Developing a food safety roadmap for commercialising Cumbungi

Summary: As the native foods industry continues to grow it is important that Indigenous enterprises can successfully develop their products for the Australian and international markets. One crucial step in successfully bringing a traditional food to the marketplace is to establish that the food is going to be safe for consumption by the wider population.

While it is imperative to draw on Indigenous knowledge and practice, evaluating the dietary safety of Cumbungi is an important complementary measure to inform an evidence-based safety framework. The project will perform a complete safety assessment on Cumbungi. This assessment will detail any beneficial aspects (nutritional value, antioxidant level, etc.), as well as potential detrimental effects that may harm human health (toxins, allergens, etc.).

The project will inform on an Indigenous-led roadmap to assessing the safety of bushfood items in a cost-effective and timely manner that also considers the knowledge and interests of Indigenous peoples.

Funding:

$20,000

Investigators:

Professor Bruce Pascoe (CI)
Dr Kate Howell (CI)
Dr Jack Pascoe (PI)

Organisations:

The University of Melbourne
Black Duck Foods Ltd