Crunchy cubes of freeze-dried cheddar cheese are appearing on supermarket shelves as snack food as an Australian processor tackles the problem of fresh food waste.
Freeze Dry Industries started by transforming strawberries, apples, mangoes and banana seconds with minor skin perfections that made them unsuitable for supermarkets.
Tiny cubes of perfectly preserved cheese are the company's latest value-adding idea, aimed at the lucrative international snack market.
No preservatives added
Freeze Dry Industries founder and CEO Michael Buckley said freeze dried cheese was a successful experiment that was now commercialised.
Lightweight, long-life, freeze-dried food was commonly used in space programs.
"The diced cheese was chilled and sent to us," Mr Buckley said.
All we do is open the packet in a state-of-the-art facility, put it onto the trays, lock it down, let the science do its job, unpack it put it back into an airtight foil package ready for re-use."
The processing technique was believed to have its origins with the Incas storing food in the Andes, but during World War II it became a way to transport blood plasma in Britain.
United States military personnel carry freeze-dried plasma in their medical kits and the Australian Red Cross has also been trialling the technology for the Australian Defence Force.
Mr Buckley regarded freeze drying as a fightback strategy for Australian farmers to create high-value long shelf life products — and to tackle waste and provide alternative income streams.
Tackling waste
"We see so much waste throughout the whole food system that we wanted to broaden our horizons and make sure that we were properly accredited and registered to handle meat and dairy," he said.
At $6.40 for a 40 gram packet the freeze dried cheese is not cheap, but Mr Buckley was confident the price was competitive in the world market.
Export potential
"This could stay as a snack food or it could go up a level into more boutique and niche markets for restaurateurs and it could then have a serious part in ready made meals that could be transported for defence forces or anywhere in the world," Mr Buckley said.
Queensland Dairy Farmers Organisation vice-president Matthew Trace said he had never heard of freeze dried cheese, but welcomed the concept.
"Farmers would certainly be happy to supply the milk if there's somewhere to sell the product."
