Qld RED Grant helps turn peanut waste into liquid gold

Peanuts destined for landfill will soon become specialty cold pressed oil thanks to funding of up to $200,000 from the Queensland Government’s Rural Economic Development (RED) Grants scheme.

Plenty Foods in Kingaroy, in the South Burnett region, is one of the successful applicants to the scheme. The funding will be used to meet an increased demand for the company’s cold pressed peanut oil.

“With Plenty Foods increasing its production capacity of peanut oil, we can further reduce Australia’s reliance on the imported product,” said Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner MP.

“The more we can support Queensland businesses and the more they can grow and manufacture, ensuring dollars earned on home soil are dollars spent on home soil.

“Investments like this are critical to not only local communities, but the wider Queensland economy.

“This project alone will add eight new long-term, full-time good jobs in the South Burnett.”

Plenty Foods Managing Director Joshua Gadischke said the business was being stretched by the high demand for its business.

“We simply need to increase our output capacity or risk losing contracts to interstate and overseas suppliers.

“The additional demand for peanut oil will allow Plenty Foods to acquire peanuts that have traditionally been treated as ‘waste’ and have been discarded by local growers.

“We will now be able to acquire the ‘waste’ product and turn it into a food-grade cooking oil of high standard. The entire process greatly reduces waste and food miles, creating a real value-add for local growers.

“The project will be made up of various items of plant and equipment so that we can maintain the entire bottling line solution for 750 mL bottles used in the bottling of refined peanut cooking oil.

15 other businesses were approved in the fourth round of the RED Grant scheme, which will provide over $3 million in funding. Across RED’s lifetime, over $13 million has been used to support more than 45 projects in Queensland, creating 1800 jobs.

An additional $6.6 million in funding will be available in two more funding rounds in the next two years.

Read more about the scheme online.

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