Demand for the dark red-fleshed Queen Garnet plum has been growing across the globe, with the Queensland-bred antioxidant-high fruit set to make millions in royalties for the state government in the coming 20 years.
'Interest in the high antioxidant plum is coming from every major stone fruit growing country in the world,' Nutrafruit's Hugh Macintosh told the ABC. 'We've had calls from Romania, Spain, South America, South Africa, the UK, the USA, across Europe and China, everywhere.'
The Queensland Department of Primary Industry bred the Queen Garnet plum about ten years ago, with Nutrafruit holding the exclusive marketing rights to the plum.
Following research into the obesity-fighting properties of the anthocyanin-rich plum, demand shot up, with Nutrafruit inundated with calls about the Queen Garnet plum.
'People wanted to know how they could get trees and where they could buy the fruit and the juice,' Macintosh said. 'It reminds me of the baby formula crisis. People are saying we can't find it where can we buy it?'
Further research is being undertaken to build on the success of the previous trial on rats, with a clinical trial on the effects of the plum on humans underway in Victoria. Additionally, the University of Wollongong is testing the Queen Garnet plum on elderly participants in a dementia trial.
