Faculty of Science and Engineering students held a special class and tasting event using rice flour "edible spoons" at Hachioji City Minami-Osawa Junior High School
On Wednesday, July 2nd, students led by the Shinsaku Maruta Seminar at our university Faculty of Science and Engineering held a special class and tasting event at Hachioji City Minami-Osawa Junior High School as part of an educational project using "edible spoons" developed by upcycling rice flour, a by-product of the production process of Hachioji's ginjo sake "Takao no Tengu".
This project, which was selected for the Reiwa 7 Student Planning Project Grant of the University Consortium Hachioji, aims to contribute to STEAM education that fosters children's creativity and inquisitiveness and promote a resource-recycling-oriented society in collaboration with the Hachioji City School Education Department's Lunch Division and Educational Guidance Division.
This time, at Hachioji City Minami-Osawa Junior High School, a special class was held by students of the Maruta Seminar, and the seminar initiatives, which are model projects for STEAM education, and the product development process were introduced. In addition, we distributed a clip of rice flour biomass plastic (with the Hachioji city emblem) developed by Maruta Seminar as a free sample. At the school lunch that followed, we conducted a trial of "edible spoons" and deepened the junior high school students' thoughts on the significance of reducing food loss and local production for local consumption from the perspective of the SDGs.
Background of this project
Maruta's seminar has been working on making effective use of rice flour, a by-product generated during the production of Hachioji's ginjo sake "Takao no Tengu." As a result, in collaboration with local companies (Seiho Co., Ltd.) and companies with specialized technology (Kinroshoku Co., Ltd., Biopoly Joetsu Co., Ltd.), they have succeeded in developing a wide range of original, locally-focused products, including an "edible rice flour spoon," bioplastic garbage bags containing 20% rice, and paperclips containing 50% rice flour.
This year, the "edible spoon," which is one of the most highly refined of these products and can now be mass-produced in collaboration with Kinroshoku Co., Ltd., will be used to help elementary and junior high school students in Hachioji City develop the ability to identify and solve local issues. Going forward, the project will seek ideas from elementary and junior high school students on how to effectively use rice flour by-products, and explore the possibility of collaborating with students on projects. The "edible spoon" will also be available for trial use at lectures and local events at Cool Center Hachioji.
The rice bran-containing portion of the rice flour used in this research is known to have anti-cancer properties. However, until now, the mechanism of action at the molecular level had not been clarified. During this research, experiments showed that components of rice bran strongly inhibit the activity of a target molecule (spindle formation factor) in cancer treatment that is being studied in Maruta's seminar. This discovery may lead to the development of new anti-cancer drugs that suppress the growth of cancer cells. Specifically, it shows the possibility of effectively using food waste to make sustainable medicines and health supplements, and it is also expected to be used to build a medical-industrial collaboration model that utilizes local resources.
