Food safety and standard of Australian native plants

Abstract

Information on the nutritive prospective of selected Australian bush plants has been described including bush tomato, Kakadu plum, wattle seed, Davidson plum, wild lime, lemon myrtle, as they are currently used as food ingredients in processed products. It was found that bioactive compounds such as vitamin C and lycopene are available in these plants; however, some work has reported evidence of toxic compounds in these plants. Recommendation to eliminate or reduce the toxicity has been made for each of the plants. Food standard practices throughout Australian native product (sauces) manufacturing have been formulated in order to make recommendation to producers and processors to enhance ingredient quality and stability as well as to provide the Australian native food industry with information on the positive nutritional benefits of these native fruits and seeds and to assist in ongoing promotional activities. This review suggests that there are two aspects to food safety issues in the use of Australian native plants. First, finding ways to eliminate toxic compounds is essential. Second, during processing of the products, the critical control points need to be carefully tested in order to protect the products from contamination.