The Philippine Center of Post-Harvest Development and Mechanization has partnered with the country’s largest exporter of dried mango in providing technical skills and assistance in the disposal of 16 tons per day of mango peels.
At a news conference in Quezon City, Dr. Ma. Cristina Gragasin, PHilMech supervising science research specialist technology generator, said executives from the Misamis Oriental-based Amley Food Corp. approached PhilMech, sought help and expressed their desire to adopt the agency’s mango pectin extraction so they could turn their huge volume of mango peels into a more useful purpose.
She said the adoption of the pectin extraction technology would be a major breakthrough for the company that exports 100 tons of ripe dried mango a month to the United States of America, Australia, Japan, Europe and even China. Hayley Kathleen Yu and Amy Chua, the company’s president and vice president, respectively, on Friday afternoon flew to Metro Manila from Misamis Oriental for the signing of a memorandum of agreement with PhilMech. According to Chua, they process 80 tons of ripe mango a day.
“At least 20 percent of that or 16 tons per day are mango peels that go to our four-hectare land area for composting for a period of one year,” she told the Manila Standard.
“The organic compost is just given away for free. Now that we could extract pectin from our mango peels, we can explore other market opportunities,” she said. Gragasin said PHilMech is the registered owner of a utility model for pharmaceutical grade pectin from mango peels and a process of producing since 2013. “Pectin is a high-value product being used as gelling and thickening agent, and stabilizer in cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries,” she said.