QUEENSLAND, Australia’s capital for quality beef, seafood and fresh produce, could soon provide the country with another gourmet delicacy ... cane toads.

Toad cakes, fried toad, and canapés of toad legs in garlic butter could form a national and international push to cash in on the feral pests that have invaded the country.

In his latest research paper, Southern Cross University Professor Philip Hayward has outlined the economic and health benefits of a regulated toad industry.

“If you extracted the meat and packaged it and called it something else it could be effective,” Prof Hayward told The Courier-Mail. “In Australia you would have to process them in some way so it didn’t look anything like the cane toad when you bought it because no one wants to buy a snap frozen cane toad.”

Prof Hayward, who has eaten frog in Vietnam and Indonesia, will present his research on adding toad to Australian cuisine at a regional food conference in Byron Bay this month.

“You could do ‘fish’ cakes or toad cakes or you could actually sell the pre-cooked legs as a hors d’oeuvre, you just need a bit of creative marketing,” he said.

In his draft research paper, Prof Hayward said toads were an ideal substitute for the lucrative frog industry, which has declined in South-East Asia.

He also reiterated the need for safe preparation of toads to avoid toxins poisoning the customers.

There are more than 200 million cane toads in Australia, and they continue to march south through NSW and west towards WA.

“Cane toads are a harvestable asset that is not restricted by protection laws and/or by cultural reticence about culling and reducing the population,” Prof Hayward said.

“They are therefore relatively cheap to gather.

Prof Hayward said frogs and toads were a “healthy food source” and were “rich in protein and high in Omega 3”.

Indonesia currently exports more than 5000 tonnes of frog meat mainly to France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

In the Northern Territory, sustainable food groups have adopted “toad legs” on their menus carefully preparing them to extract poisons and toxins.

GULP NT – a group dedicated to sustainable eating – have listed recipes on their website including canapés of toad legs in garlic butter.

The food blog describes the taste of cane toad as “a bit like gamey chicken”.

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media_camera 14/6/11 Fifi the 1.35kg Cane Toad loves nothing more than to eat cockroaches at her home in Dreamworld. Pics Adam Head

CANE TOAD FACTS

– Cane Toad introduced in Australia in 1935 to control native cane beetle

– More than 200 million toads spread across Queensland, NSW and Northern Territory

– Native to Central and South America Cane Toads have bony heads with dry warty skin and can grow up to 24cm long and 1.3kg

– Current population spawned from an original colony of 102 toads transported from Hawaii