March 2009
TONY BURKE: What can you do with something as simple as sugar to be able to innovate? Well, the answer is extraordinary.
PRESENTER: It’s a world first, an all-natural low GI cane sugar.
DR DAVID KANNAR: Essentially what we’ve done is just make sugar the way mother nature intended, so we’ve left everything in it that should be there.
PRESENTER: Dr Bary Kitchen and Dr David Kannar are the scientists who have developed this exciting and groundbreaking Australian product called LoGiCane.
DR BARY KITCHEN: Ironically these benefits are achieved from a process that involves less refinement of the product than what is happening currently.
PRESENTER: The Glycemic Index Foundation say LoGiCane is a better choice than other sugars and can play a significant roll in improving the overall Australian diet.
DR ALAN BARCLAY: This has a Glycemic Index or GI of fifty, and, ordinary table sugar has a GI of around about sixty-five on average, so it’s about ten to fifteen units less.
KATE CARNELL: Brings together Agriculture, innovation and manufacturing in Australia with a product that’s patented, so really, an Australian invention.
PRESENTER: Currently the cane is manufactured in Mossman, located in far North Queensland. It’s harvested and crushed as usual yet unlike white sugar LoGiCane retains its micronutrients in the process creating a sugar that’s essentially better for you.
DR DAVID KANNAR: It was one of my eureka moments in that we saw the results and thought ‘my goodness, a natural product like this could actually be a low Glycemic Index’, so you actually get then less of the sugar being absorbed and less of the glucose appearing in the blood.
PRESENTER: Prior to its production of LoGiCane this primary mill was simply producing high-volumes of raw sugar, which was then refined at a secondary mill.
BILL PHILLIPS-TURNER: The mill had to be made to food grade standard, it’s the only raw sugar mill in Queensland that is of food grade standard and has had accreditation. It’s also meant building a bagging plant, essentially it’s a sugar mill as we know it but it’s a smart sugar mill.
JIM TURNOUR: Well it means greater jobs, security for the mill, that’ll provide security for farmers.
PRESENTER: The minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, launched LoGiCane at parliament house in Canberra.
TONY BURKE: We’ve landed now with a fantastic announcement that has made its way from Mossman north of Cairns to supermarket shelves around Australia and I’ve no doubt will be found on the shelves of supermarket shelves around the world.
DR DAVID KANNAR: It’s important for us to acknowledge the significant Federal and Queensland State Government funding, so thank you for that great faith of which I humbly acknowledge and am grateful for.
PRESENTER: And for those who hadn’t yet tasted the LoGiCane, they had their pick of muffins and biscuits. For the rest of us, you’ll find LoGiCane at any major supermarket under the CSR brand.
ESH EDIRIWEERA: Had a very good consumer response as well so from a Sugar Australia perspective, very exciting day.
PRESENTER: And this is just the beginning, Horizon Science hope to take the product abroad.
ASHOK DHANRAJGIR: We’re in active discussions with selected partners in the US and in South Asia, so we’re fairly confident we’ll strike a deal similar to the deal we’ve struck with Sugar Australia.
DR BARY KITCHEN: It’s been a long journey, fantastic day.