Fruta Sagu

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Carbohydrate Polymers 72 (2008) 1–20 www.elsevier.com/locate/carbpol

Review

Industrial production, processing, and utilization of sago palm-derived products
Rekha S. Singhal a,*, John F. Kennedy b, Sajilata M. Gopalakrishnan a, Agnieszka Kaczmarek b, Charles J. Knill b, Putri Faridatul Akmar c
a b

Food Engineering and Technology Department,Institute of Chemical Technology, University of Mumbai, Matunga, Mumbai 400 019, India Birmingham Carbohydrate & Protein Technology Group (BCPTG), Chembiotech Laboratories, University of Birmingham Research Park, Vincent Drive, Birmingham B15 2SQ, UK c Chemistry Division, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong 52109, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Received 26 July 2007; accepted 27 July 2007Available online 21 August 2007

Abstract With a deep concern over the probable global food shortage in the years to come, underutilized plant resources are now being extensively tapped by scientists throughout the world. In this regard, sago palm is gaining much importance as a crop par excellence and a starch crop of the 21st century, due to its being an extremely sustainable plant with anability to thrive in most soil conditions. The review focuses on sago palm as an invaluable resource of starchy foods and of innumerable other products of significant commercial value such as modified starches, lactic acid, cyclodextrins, and ethanol. Several important aspects of the properties and applications of sago palmderived products that could be exploited commercially are also covered. Ó 2007Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Sago palm; Sago pith; Starch; Ethanol; Sugars; Lactic acid; Kojic acid; Cyclodextrin; Modified starch; Sap; Fronds; Hampas; Waste water

1. Introduction The sago palm (Metroxylon sagu) (Fig. 1) is a crop par excellence for sustainable agriculture. The word ‘sago’ is originally Javanese, meaning starch-containing palm pith. The scientific name is derivedfrom ‘metra’, meaning pith or parenchyma and ‘xylon’ meaning xylem. It is considered as the ‘starch crop of the 21st century’ by many scientists (Jong, 1995). Sago palms are economically acceptable, environmentally friendly, and promote a socially stable agroforestry system (Flach, 1997). It is an extremely hardy plant, thriving in swampy, acidic peat soils, submerged and saline soils where fewother crops survive, growing more slowly in peat soil than in mineral soil (Flach & Schuilling,
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 022 24145616; fax: +91 022 24145614. E-mail address: rekha@udct.org (R.S. Singhal). 0144-8617/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2007.07.043
*

1989; Hisajima, 1994). The palm is immune to floods, drought, fire and strongwinds. The large fibrous root system traps silt loads and removes pollutants, faecal contaminants and heavy metals. Sago forest acts as an excellent carbon sink for carbon sequestration, thereby mitigating the greenhouse effect and global warming arising from the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere due to industrialization, and an increase in the number of motorized vehicles (Stanton,1991). Starch can accumulate in the trunk of the sago palm until the flowering stage with maximum starch content occurring just before the onset of the palm flowers. A 25ton haÀ1 yÀ1 of starch productivity from sago plantation is under development in the Malaysian state of Sarawak (Ishizaki, 1997). It is so far the highest in productivity among the starchy crops of the world (Ishizaki, 1997). The twoprimary uses of the species of Metroxylon are for the production of edible starch and durable leaf thatch.

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R.S. Singhal et al. / Carbohydrate Polymers 72 (2008) 1–20

full-grown sago is 20 m long and the fruits, in clusters, which take about 24 months to mature are depressed-globose to obconical, 3 cm to 2 inches in diameter, and covered with 18 vertical rows of rhomboid greenish-yellow...