WA grown Australian sweet lupins are due to hit the shelves by the end of 2019 in selected retail outlets around the State after a new range of lupin-based high protein snack foods was launched at the THAIFEX - World Food of Asia exhibition held in Bangkok at the end of May.
The new joint Thai-WA Lupin Products Company successfully released a new generation of healthy high protein snack products, under the Pinarie and Supermood brands, which are based on lupins from WA.
Dowerin lupin growers Glen and Todd Quartermaine partnered with WA-based ATQ Consulting & Advisory managing director Daniel Marshall to engage with Thai investors to set up the joint venture that will see the lupins shipped from WA and processed into snack foods in Thai food processing factories.
Mr Marshall said the move of using lupins for human consumption was a logical progression once the Thai investors realised the nutritional benefits of the pulse.
"I travelled with the Quartermaines to Thailand some years ago on a trade mission and we established some contacts through that," Mr Marshall said.
"Initially lupins were going to Thailand to feed dairy cattle there but the Thais became interested in the lupins' value as a potential super food product for humans and it grew from there.
"They could see the uniqueness of it as a nutritional and healthy super food product with its high protein and fibre, gluten free, low GI (glycaemic index) and being non-GMO."
Mr Marshall partnered the Quartermaines up with Thai investors and work began on developing the snack products.
"It was really pulled from the Thai end, rather than being pushed from here," he said.
"Once they found out more about lupins as a super food, the more they were keen to invest in it and commit to research and development."
Mr Marshall said the promotional launch of the lupin-based snack and lupin food ingredient products at THAIFEX was the culmination of 12 months of market development activities including the exclusive lupins for human food promotion and a research and development project, which was approved and supported by the Innovation and Technology Assistance Program (ITAP) under the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) of Thailand.
This work was assisted by the research team of the Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Technology at Silpakorn University and had added support from the AUSTRADE-EMDG program.
"We are only producing small volumes at the moment as we are only just through the R&D stage," Mr Marshall said.
"The Expo was really a trial launch and we were keen to get some feedback from that before kicking off full commercialisation in the new financial year."
Glen Quartermaine said initially they were looking at setting up an export opportunity for beef to Thailand from their Ucarty Holdings feedlot.
"We then discovered an opening for exporting lupins up there as the Thais were really interested in it for cattle feed and then human consumption," Mr Quartermaine said.
"We had also always wondered about that side of it because if you look at their attributes, lupins have high magnesium and fibre, high protein and are low GI - it looked too good to leave as just livestock feed."
Mr Quartermaine said while they were only exporting a small volume at the moment they were pretty excited about the potential.
"Hopefully it will grow and these products we have developed will find some demand from health conscious and discerning consumers," he said.
"From this project we are looking longer term at other markets in Europe, the US and Asian and Middle Eastern countries."
Mr Quartermaine said work was also being done with WA retailers to get the products on the shelves here.
"Hopefully around September or October we might have 20-30 retailers that want to stock it in WA," he said.
"Daniel is working with some WA retailers at the moment and the signals are pretty good.
"It would be great to have these products available for sale sold in WA, as they are made from WA-grown lupins after all."
The Quartermaines have been growing lupins on their Dowerin property since the 1970s and plant about 900-1200 hectares a year.
"Lupins has always been an up and down crop in terms of price, they lose popularity every two or three years and then come back again," he said.
"They fit in well with our cropping program agronomically and if we can develop a few more market options for them then it can only help the whole WA industry."
Mr Marshall agreed, saying that if the current percentage of lupin use in Australia was 95 per cent for animal food and 5pc for human food and that could be changed to a 70:30 ration, then it would only be positive for mixed farming systems in WA.
"If lupins were to play a greater role in the food industry then it would be good for all growers in WA," he said.
Mr Marshall said following the successful product launch at THAIFEX, the Thai-WA Lupin Products Company was now in discussion with a number of Asian, Australian and global distribution channels.
"Planning is underway for a global distribution and promotion strategy for the healthy high protein lupin snacks, food ingredients and future ready-to-eat lupin product range," he said.
