From Food Waste to Future Solutions
An 18-month collaborative research project on food waste valorisation was successfully completed, demonstrating the potential to transform food processing by-products into high-value ingredients that support both sustainability and human health. The project focused on three food waste streams – spent coffee grounds, barley by-products and fruit pulp – which were converted into valuable prebiotics with promising applications in promoting gut health. Building on these findings, a draft intellectual property (IP) proposal was developed, paving the way for future commercialisation opportunities.
The research outcomes were also showcased internationally through two conference presentations at the Mucosal Immunology and Microbiome Symposium, held in Noosa, Queensland, Australia, from 20–23 May 2025. The papers presented were:
-
Sustainable Prebiotics Derived from Food Processing By-products in Australia for Promoting Gut Health (Heng KS, HC Lee, Lisa Ho, Charles Lee); and
-
Harnessing Prebiotics: A Targeted Approach to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance (Lee CC, Heng KS, Chin EJ).
In late May 2025, CSD hosted research collaborator Dr Heng Kiang Soon from Republic Polytechnic during his visit to the University of Newcastle’s School of Environmental and Life Sciences (SELS) and the discipline of Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN) at the Ourimbah campus. The visit facilitated meaningful exchanges with researchers and identified excellent opportunities for future collaborations in food waste valorisation, reinforcing a shared commitment to advancing innovative and sustainable solutions through interdisciplinary research.