Dorset based super-food producer The Watercress Company (TWC) has further strengthened its position as one of the most innovative and forward-thinking grower organisations in the UK.
Tom Amery, MD of The Watercress Company explains the importance of science and technology to his business:
Our award-winning team is built its success on innovation and R&D and its natural we continue to look for opportunities to deliver distinctiveness and remain relevant to our consumers. Ten years ago, we successfully launched The Wasabi Company, this was before Japanese products went mainstream in the UK; we were an early adopter to productivity-enabling farming technology, and embraced IT systems to improve our processes to ensure our salad crops can reach us from 2 overseas locations and be on the shelves in less than 48hrs from harvest. We are now excited to be exploring how science and technology can help watercress’ use in the healthcare industry.
For the last 20 years TWC has spearheaded the drive to educate the nation on the health benefits of eating watercress, its nutritional advantages and promoting peer reviewed scientific research into the cancer fighting properties of our peppery crop. Through such work they have begun to identify key constituents of watercress that can be applied to specific aspects of healthcare.
To realise our full potential in this sector, we have invested in the creation of Watercress Research Ltd (WRL), led by an NHS GP & Experimental Scientist Kyle Stewart and a board of experts in this sector. In the last six months WRL has been working on several exciting and truly innovative applications for watercress:
- Watercress has fantastic urease-inhibiting properties that can be used on skin conditions such as nappy rash in babies and rashes caused by incontinence in the elderly. The urease-inhibiting treatment containing a patented watercress extract prevents the burning action associated with these rashes and WRL is in talks with companies manufacturing creams, incontinence wipes and nappies.
- WRL anticipates that the extract will work on other conditions where urease activity is pathologically implicated eg struvite kidney stones, urinary tract infections and liver cirrhosis. In these cases, the urease-inhibitor could act both as an anti-inflammatory but, perhaps most exciting, as an antibiotic. Given the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, this would be a truly remarkable breakthrough.
- The compound PEITC (phenyl ethyl isothiocyanate) which gives watercress its distinctive peppery taste, was found in the research findings revealed in 2007 and 2010 to be important in the cancer fighting properties of watercress. It is currently being investigated for its role as an anti-inflammatory agent and it has been shown that the watercress extract improves the healing process of inflamed skin potentially having a huge impact on the sufferers of eczema, psoriasis, and other skin conditions. As well as creams for these, it is thought that the PEITC can reduce the inflammation of sunburn.
- Finally, as a by-product of the production process to yield the PEITC-rich urease inhibiting extract, we concentrate out the protein and fibre from the watercress. This has been shown to contain a particularly high essential amino acid content, as well as being high in fibre, low in sugar and fat and packed full of vitamins and minerals and could have several applications.
At the same time, we are exploring working in healthcare through diet. We are trialling ways to make fresh watercress into a pulp which can be fresh frozen and used to make a nutrient rich soup & pesto which will meet NHS diatray needs and still stay within tight budgets. Tests at NHS Hospitals have shown there is a demand for nutritious additions to existing menus and we believe we have part of the solution with a nutrient dense ingredient and a formulation that is new to market.
So, although growing watercress is a time-old process dating back to the Romans in the UK, is natural and technically simple, science and technology play a huge role in TWC. A dedicated team of scientists, growers and healthcare specialists are exploring ways to use surplus watercress, that might otherwise go to waste, and through technology are aiming to create higher value products with a higher purpose from a simple plant.