The Agriculture and Food Agency (Council of Agriculture) is working to bring new attention to the quality agriculture products of Pingtung County and to promote effective economic models for their sales. To facilitate their efforts, this year they called on a team from NPUST to contribute its expertise. Team members included Food Science professor Pao-chuan Hsieh, Assistant Professor Yung-Lin Chu, Dr. Hung-Ju Tsai, and Dr. Pei-Hsuan Lee. Together, the researchers developed 16 new red and black bean products, including red bean cake, red bean tofu, cooked black beans, black bean tea, and black bean Nattō. A contract was also signed with the Hengchun Township Farmer’s Association to distribute the products through their nationwide sales channels.
In his remarks, Chih-Wang Yao, deputy director of the Agriculture and Food Agency thanked the NPUST Department of Food Science, for “helping consumers to get an understanding the red and black bean industry in the Kaohsiung and Pingtung area, and for providing information on the health and safety of the food products. In the future we hope to pursue the development of more red and black bean foods, and will continue to promote excellent agricultural products.” NPUST Vice President Shui-Jen Chen said “NPUST has established solid bridges of cooperation with the Agriculture and Food Agency and farmers’ associations across the country, and for many years have assisted with the production, marketing, processing and development of various agricultural products. Interdisciplinary teams at the school have cooperated to develop the high-nutritional value products presented here today.”
Pingtung Magistrate Pan Men-an also expressed gratitude to NPUST and stated that “in the future the County Government will help with marketing, to help farmers cooperate and get contracts for their safe and healthy products. Processing can bring balance to the production season and help to increase the added value of produce. Among so many commodities, in the future, we hope to move towards the development of biotechnology products so that whether it is food, drink or health maintenance, people will be able to care for themselves.”
Of course, there is more behind the project than simply promoting local agricultural products. Professor Pao-chuan Hsieh believes that, as Taiwan’s population ages, food science and technology should be used to develop foods that are beneficial to the country’s senior population. And so, taking into account taste, texture and nutritional value, red and black beans were selected for the current line of products. The main reason for this was that both of these beans are rich in nutrients such as protein, lipids, anthocyanins and amino acids—and other trace elements. Bringing in this nutrition-related knowledge, the team developed products with antioxidant and good palatability to give elderly consumers diverse and healthy choices at the market. Meanwhile, for the farmers, it means new added value for their hard work in the fields and a greater competitive advantage.
