Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Philippine Center for Postharvest
Development and Mechanization
CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

NEWS STORIES

PHilMech, Green OPS to commercialize pectin production
by Vladimir B. Caliguiran (December 2, 2014)
A Memorandum of Agreement was signed by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization and the Green OPS, Inc. to collaborate for the establishment of the first pectin commercial-scale production in the country.

PHilMech Director Rex L. Bingabing and Green OPS, Inc President Gino A. Baltao signed the MOA last November 11, 2014 at the PHilMech headquarters in Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

In 2012, PHilMech and DOST-ITDI researchers led by Dr. Ma. Cristina B. Gragasin successfully developed a processing system for the production of pharmaceutical grade pectin from mango peels. The project garnered numerous awards from various scientific fora. The utility model for the pectin production has sIntellectual Property Registration No. 22013000466.

Pectin is a high value product used as gelling and thickening agent, stabilizer in cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries.
The Philippines depends on its pectin supply from other countries. According to the Department of Trade and Industry the country imported around 94,848.93 kilograms of pectin from various origin amounted to total custom value of US$ 52,383,487 or P2.2 billion in 2011 at an average landed cost of Php 27,000 per kilogram.

Dr. Ofero Capariño, chief of the PHilMech Bio-Process Engineering Division, said that Green OPS is one of the two private companies to collaborate with PHilMech, among the many groups and individuals who showed interest in the production of pectin.

Green OPS is engaged in tropical fruits processing which generates huge volume of mango peels and other fruit wastes which are potential sources of pectin.
“Just this year we have something about one million of wastes, half of these are from the peels... Thank you for having this program that would allow us to utilize these wastes that we actually have to pay for disposal,” Baltao said.

According to Baltao, their company had already made initial research on the commercial production of pectin. He said that machine manufacturers have been offering them equipment for pectin production from citrus.

“…we believe in the Filipino ingenuity and we believe that this project will push through that’s the reason why we are investing on it,” Baltao said for his choice of the PHilMech technology.