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Advice on Publications Available.Pulse Australia
Telephone: 02 9247 2033
Facsimile: 02 9247 1158
Pulses in Australia have generally been used by the stock feed industry and any human consumption has been in a pre-cooked form, such as baked beans.
Hence, pulses have unfortunately been seen by some, quite wrongly, as poor quality food.
Most pulses are high in the oligosaccharides raffinose, stachyose and verbascose which cause flatulence. This problem, combined with the long cooking times required to prepare them and the fact that they are usually only available in cans or as sauces, has given pulses a poor marketing image as human food.
Supermarket snack foods rarely have a pulse component. In contrast, many South-east Asian countries have top-selling snacks made from pulses.
In Thailand in 1997, 7,000 tonnes of snacks made from peas, worth US$25.25 million were sold.
Although this segment of the market is declining due to the popularity of western-style chips, it shows there is huge potential for such products.
Pulses also have potential in extruded snack foods.
They offer a good base for the extruded product as they produce a good flavour which is not overpowering, when heated. They lend themselves to flavour addition and retain a good crunch if treated and stored properly.
Breakfast cereals in Australia comprise a base group of products such as Weetbix and Special K which don't change and other products which come and go.
Cereals are worth $7,000 million per year, with 3% growth per year, the fastest being in breakfast bars.
Short life cereals are mainly the 'muesli' style of mixed grains with added fruit or nuts.
Breakfast bars are the home meal replacement option for breakfast.
Both present an ideal opportunity for value-adding with pulses.
The addition of pulses which have been treated to remove any unusual flavours and softened for easy eating could differentiate a market cluttered with a range of products which are similar to one another.
This has started with Willow Valley and others adding soy to some of their products and this could be extended to lentils or peas.
Pre-prepared meals is one of the fastest growing segments of the retail market. In the UK last year, growth was 14%, the largest market segment growth.
Manufacturers seek flavour, appearance and an ability to retain texture and colour when reheated from a frozen or cold state.
Consumers want these properties as well as a healthy, nutritious product. Many pulses can satisfy these requirements.
They can add a valuable source of carbohydrates and protein to a meal, along with other positive nutritional benefits.
Pulses which are ready to cook and eat quickly are another potential growth area.
Pre-cooking and correct packaging are the keys to sales in this area.
Pulses are a good source of carbohydrate, protein, fibre and calcium, iron, thiamine and riboflavin.
However, they a poor source of sulphur amino acids which can cause a problem in diets which do not contain protein sources from meat.
Properly cooked pulses are a very healthy product.
With correct processing and packaging, pulse products can be sold as health supplements in supermarkets or health food stores.
This is a speciality market but with the appropriate scientific backing, could be profitable.
In conclusion, there are no quick fixes to product development.
Unfortunately the pulse industry is competing in a market which has many alternatives and needs to differentiate itself.
Product substitution is not really product development, and although it may sell some of the crop, it will never make big gains or profits.
The key is to be imaginative and highlight the differences in pulses, rather than to make them look the same and have the same effect as an existing product.
Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter
Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email:
r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au[
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GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF