Representing the association during the recent South African Botanical Products Association Symposium (Feb. 5, 2026), natural product trading expert and consultant Cyril Lombard discussed the strong clinical backing and potential consumer interest in this fruit.
He said while it is popular for use in jams, juices, and best known for its use in Amarula cream liqueur, there’s ample opportunity for use of the fruit within a range of health-focused products.
“We all know Amarula. But that’s basically the only well-established value chain. The rest is really in poor condition,” he said. “Small companies looking to find natural extracts can’t find them because the ecosystem around small business and innovation partners is virtually non-existent.”
He compared the market to Israel, where they have a wide range of functional products on the market, led by the research and development centre MarulaLab.
“There is a vast array of product types which is missing in South Africa… and I think it’s something that is imminently possible,” he added.
The fruit is high in potassium (even higher than dried prunes), as well as being a source of fibre and pectin and rich in polyphenols and catechins, making it supportive of heart and metabolic health.
The ability to claim ‘a source of fibre’ on pack immediately adds value to a product, Lombard said, and creates links in the consumers’ minds with blood sugar control, weight management, blood pressure, lipid profile and inflammation.
Discussing the fruit’s significant clinical backing, Lombard highlighted a clinical trial by Borochov-Neori et al in 2008 which revealed Marula juice’ impact on blood lipids and directly linked it to cardiometabolic health due to its high antioxidant content.
Novel Foods dossier in development
The trading consultant created The Marula Fruit Products Association as a ‘conceptual idea’ to bring stakeholders together into one entity, which is a requirement to be able to get regulatory approval in the EU and elsewhere.
“You need to be a Food Business Operator (FBO) who takes the role of notifier to the EC and EFSA and takes responsibility for putting the food on the market,” Lombard explained to delegates.
PhytoTrade Africa—in which Lombard played a significant role— played this role and worked with South African company Afriplex, to introduce baobab fruit pulp to the industry.
The association is currently pulling together the clinical backing for marula into a dossier to submit for Novel Foods approval.
“There’s a lot of literature in the public domain and unpublished literature, and its moment has arrived,” Lombard said.
He explained they are creating an EU appropriate dossier because that is “like a gold standard” requirement meaning the dossier should meet the requirements of most global authorities and puts the fruit “a small move away from a global market access strategy”.
From a regulatory point of view, there is a lot of positive backing already. EFSA has accepted there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the consumption of pectins and the reduction of post-prandial glycaemic responses and the maintenance of formal blood cholesterol concentrations.
It has further accepted there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the consumption of potassium and normal muscular and neurological function
There are even authorized health claims for potassium in the European Union (EU) related to its role in maintaining normal blood pressure, muscular function, nervous system function, and maintenance of normal blood pressure.
Rapid rotting challenge
Discussing the potential challenges in producing products from marula, he noted the extremely rapid perishing of the fruit.
“The skin is host to a giant number of yeasts and natural enzymes and this facilitates a quick fermentation,” Lombard said, adding, “in Namibia you go from the green fruit to the brown, rotten fruit in seven days.”
“There’s a real need for infrastructure closer to the trees if you’re going to serve industry better quality, fresh products.”
However, he noted high pressure processing can extend the shelf life by up to 300% from the chilled juice shelf life.
What’s more, the dried skin, which is a natural and abundant by-product of the wine and oil industries is an alternative to fresh fruit and potentially offers more concentrated health benefitting compounds.
Health shots a hero solution?
The consultant suggested the ‘health shot’ format offers an exciting opportunity, with Grand View Research estimating the European functional shots segment is growing at around 15% CAGR. Although an education piece would be needed to communicate the flavour profile.
“It’s not 100% clear how to present the taste of marula. Consumers tend to associate marula with Amarula so there’s education to be done to teach what marula should taste like,” said Lombard.
He compared the opportunity with the Acai industry.
“Acai is a very difficult product to process. It also has this rapid rotting feature. It doesn’t taste particularly nice but they’ve put the marketing story together with the science and its become quite a giant industry and there’s nothing with marula that prevents us doing the same thing.”
The association is available to partner with companies to support with marketing, positioning, and scientific backing of products.
Lombard added: “It needs people to group together, have a common vision, use proper science to promote the products, link marketing to plausible health benefits.”