When Chitchat interviewed Rubyberry owners Chris Beckwith and Karen Pereira in May, getting their Miracle Fruit into Queensland public hospitals was still the big goal.
Four months later, that goal has become reality. Gladstone Hospital became the first public hospital in Australia to make Rubyberry available to patients, with Rockhampton Hospital following soon after.
Chris and Karen say the rollout represents a world first, with Miracle Fruit available through a public health procurement system.
For readers who missed our original story, Rubyberry is a small local business operating from a 20-acre farm at Doolbi, just outside Childers, where Miracle Fruit is grown and freeze-dried.
The unusual West African berry contains miraculin, which temporarily changes the way sour and acidic foods taste. Our May story followed Chris and Karen’s journey from discovering the fruit on their former Daintree farm to their push to have it recognised as an option for cancer patients experiencing dysgeusia, or altered taste, during treatment.
At the time, Rubyberry had already made considerable progress. The product was stocked in pharmacies and used within private healthcare, while Queensland Health had added it to its procurement system, opening the door for public hospitals to purchase it. The challenge was getting hospitals to walk through that door. Now Gladstone and Rockhampton have.
Rubyberry’s reach within the cancer-care sector is also continuing to grow. Chris and Karen say they have developed relationships with the Olivia Newton-John cancer organisation, the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) and the VCCC Alliance, while remaining in close communication with SA Health and Chris O’Brien Lifehouse.
These connections are helping take the conversation about Miracle Fruit beyond Doolbi and into organisations directly involved in cancer treatment, research and patient care.
Government awareness is growing too.
Chris and Karen credit Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett with being instrumental in helping Rubyberry gain access to a wider audience and bringing greater attention to the locally grown product.
That support will now take Rubyberry all the way to Parliament House, where it has been selected as one of just 16 businesses showcasing Queensland manufacturing as part of Manufacturing Month.
Chris and Karen plan to use the opportunity to put Miracle Fruit directly in front of politicians and decision-makers and explain its potential benefits for patients, along with its relatively low cost.
For a little berry grown just outside Childers, its reach is becoming remarkably large.
Chitchat will continue following Rubyberry’s progress and keep readers updated as more hospitals come on board. And while it is fantastic to see Gladstone and Rockhampton embracing something grown right here in our region, it would be even better to see Bundaberg follow their lead.
After all, when other parts of Queensland’s public health system are prepared to give this local innovation a go, it seems a shame for the region where it is actually grown to overlook it.
You can read the original interview ‘When Life Gives You Lemons’ on Chitchat’s website www.chitchatnewspaper.com.au/when-life-gives-you-lemons/
Published Chitchat Newspaper October 2026