January 23, 2024 | Newshub |
A New Zealand startup, Ovavo, is exploring ways to use the entire avocado – flesh, skin, and stone – as a longer-lasting, versatile, and sustainable food ingredient. Ovavo plans to create a clean label food preservative for the food and beverage industry and explore potential applications in human health supplements. The startup is working with a US lab on toxicology, collaborating with Massey University to assess performance in different food groups, and partnering with Callaghan Innovation for research on efficacy. Ovavo aims to upcycle all waste produced by the avocado industry in New Zealand, which amounts to around 5,000 to 7,000 tonnes annually. The company plans to launch the avocado skin extract into the local and global market by the beginning of next year, targeting various products such as ice cream, muesli bars, chocolate, tortilla wraps, and muffins.