Monday 25 Oct 2021, 10:00am-12:00pm, Elkhorn building # 1024, room 206, UQ Long Pocket campus

Zoom link: https://uqz.zoom.us/j/84450711759

Presented by: Gengning Chen, Centre for Nutrition & Food Sciences

Advisory team:  Prof Yasmina Sultanbawa, A/Prof Daniel Cozzolino, Dr Michael Netzel, Dr Sandra Olarte Mantilla, Dr Kamalesh Adhikari

About this seminar

Pleiogynium timoriense, best known as Burdekin plum, is one of Australia’s native plants. Within Australia, it is mainly distributed from Cape York peninsular to southeast Queensland. It belongs to the family of Anacardiaceae, which includes several economically important fruits and seeds such as mango, cashew and pistachio. In recent years, there has been an increasing attention on this species, with several publications indicating biological activities from the leaves, bark, seed, fruit of the plant extract, including anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. Particularly, the fruits were found to exert strong antioxidant activity, several times higher than blueberries. The fruits are dark purple shaped like plums with a thin layer of flesh and large stone. The sizes and tastes of the fruits varies. Traditionally consumed by Aboriginal people either raw or processed. Limited studies have reported on the nutritional quality and food functionality of Burdekin plums grown in Australia. Therefore, this study will evaluate the nutrition, phenolic compositions, biological and sensory properties of Burdekin plums as well as probing its potential to be a functional food.