Good for your gut and the planet: Australian innovation transforms agrifood waste into prebiotic fibre

Dietary fibre keeps us regular, promotes healthy gut bacteria, helps regulate blood sugar and lowers cholesterol. 

Most of us don’t eat enough of it but that might soon become easier - thanks to some innovative processing technology turning sugarcane waste into a high-value food ingredient.

Australian start-up NuFiba has developed Cellufibre™, which includes a range of prebiotic fibres that can be used as a functional food ingredient, improving the taste, texture, nutrition and shelf-life of everyday products. 

NuFiba Chief Executive Officer, Dr Mike Patane explains the unique blend of fibre boosts gut health and is unlike other products on the market.

“Cellufibre™ combines insoluble and accessible soluble fibre in one plant-based ingredient, offering both textural and health benefits,” he said. 

“This dual functionality is typically achieved using blends, ours comes from a single upcycled, sustainable source, improving ingredient processing efficiency and cost.”

Sugarcane bagasse is the fibrous residue left over from sugar production, accounting for up to 80 per cent of the total waste production in Australian mills.  NuFiba’s proprietary IP to process this waste into a premium food ingredient has the potential to provide new revenue streams and reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.

“It ticks the box for being clean, green and is sustainably derived to produce healthier food for people in a more nutritious manner,” he said.

Utilising the biomass from a sugar mill helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because this biomass is typically burnt as an inefficient fuel source”.

The technology has already been tested and scaled for other crops like pineapple, banana, palm, rice, corn, and wheat. 

Mike explains that the easier digestive release of plant-based compounds, including polyphenols as a function of processing, also delivers health benefits. 

“The fibre has inherent antioxidants available for our digestive system, while also being able to have a functional food fibre component that will make your bread last on your kitchen table,” he said. 

“These phenolic compounds combined in the fibre help promote better health in your tummy, not only when you've eaten the food but by the time you've digested it.”

Development of the technology was initially driven by a government-supported collaboration between Australian and Japanese scientists to re-purpose sugarcane waste.

This work has been extensively refined by NuFiba to focus on the potential benefits for gut health, with studies at Singapore National University Hospital and Nanyang Technological University. 

“Cellufibre’s been shown in pre-clinical studies to improve the human gut microbiome promoting better health for people with irritable bowel syndrome,” Mike said. 

“It’s also been shown to further assist in helping regulate blood glucose responses in patients with Type 2 Diabetes while lowering circulating cholesterol levels.”

Mike has a background in biochemistry and food science, applying that to manufacturing, sales and continued research.

His drive for product innovation to improve gut health comes from seeing a family member struggle with ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

“I understand the background science and can apply how the science works but the light-bulb moment for me was seeing the look on someone’s face and hearing them say ‘I don't feel as sick anymore, I don’t feel discomfort, I don't feel pain in my stomach and bowel’, I thought, we've got to do this on a larger scale, we’ve got to make more people feel the same way .”

The global dietary fibre market is valued at US$7.9 Billion, nearly half of that in the Asia Pacific.

Along with Australia, NuFiba is initially focused on developing market opportunities in Japan, to capitalise on established market connections and the country’s robust functional food market and health-conscious consumer base.

NuFiba Chief Marketing Officer, Hajime ‘Gen’ Masaki, explained that Japan has long recognised the benefits of dietary fibre within regulations like the Foods with Function Claims (FFC) labelling system supporting its inclusion in diets.

“In Japan, westernised diets led to an increase in lifestyle diseases like diabetes, obesity and heart disease,” he said.

 “Since the 1970s dietary fibre has been linked in scientific research to gut health, cardiovascular health, and disease prevention and Japan leads the world in fibre-fortified food products.”

Gen also points to Cellufibre’s alignment with trends for sustainable and natural ingredients, and its versatility as a functional food ingredient.

“In Japan’s noodle-centric food culture maintaining noodle texture KOSHI is critical,” he said. “In product trials there’s been appreciation for Cellufibre’s ability to prevent noodle clumping by isolating gluten from moisture, enhancing texture and consumer appeal.”

Nufiba’s been working with major food companies, ingredient suppliers, and agri-processors in Australia, and overseas.

The product’s been tested with more than 50 customers in 150 products including: bread and baked goods, juices, dairy and probiotic drinks, noodles, confectionary and meat patties.

Mike believes Cellufibre™ provides opportunity to increase the nutritional value of ultra-processed foods.

“Our aim is to have manufacturers include Cellufibre™  into staple foods where people don't think that they're taking supplements or medicines,” he said. 

“Eating things that they're normally accustomed to, like bread, noodle, rice meals, they'll be getting the goodness of fibre and the health benefits associated with its natural inclusions.”

NuFiba is currently raising US$6.0M in first-stage funding to establish a commercial demonstration plant in Australia. 

“From the small plant, we could supply about 70 tonnes of fibre per month to grow the market, with the aim to build commercial plants in both Australia and Japan” he said.  

“The technology could also be licensed to other manufacturers around the world to use not just in sugar cane but in other crops.”

Mike said the company already has letters of intent and Off Take Agreements from food companies totalling $7 million in initial orders.

NuFiba wants to engage with biomass suppliers and processors interested in converting agri-waste into value added ingredients, along with commercial partners and investors in food, health and nutrition. For more information visit grow^AG..