Entrepreneurial dietician Dr Rick Aspell has launched a Crowdcube campaign to develop his revolutionary low-carbohydrate potatoes, his company has announced.

Aspell’s business, the Oxford Consultancy Group (OCG), is looking to raise £500,000 by 7 May. The OCG’s ‘LoPos’ have been developed by modifying the genetic makeup of the vegetable; replacing the complex carbohydrates with less fattening amino acid DNA strands.

Renowned dietary scientist Aspell has been working on diet-friendly foods for more than two decades. He is hoping his new project will be more successful than his brussel sprout burgers, which failed to sell despite angel backing of more than £150,000 during development.

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The money will be put towards dedicated LoPo farming fields, which Aspell describes as necessary so that carbohydrates from other potatoes “don’t leak” into the new vegetables and contaminate them.

Funds will also be used to take the LoPo into a number of foreign markets. The OCG is especially targeting California, where it believes the product will gain real traction among followers of the Atkins and Paleo diets.

OCG head of developmental research Steven Astley told Growth Business potatoes are “the scourge” of those looking to follow low-carb diets.

“With their versatility and ubiquity in most British cooking, they’re so hard to avoid,” he said. “But with LoPos you can keep eating the country’s favourite food without any of the guilt. If you’re dieting we’re never going to give you up to high-carbohydrate hell.”

Rick Aspell added that he and the OCG are constantly looking to find solutions in both sweet and savoury foods.

“We’re working round to clock for those looking to lose weight. I hope you know we’re never going to let you down,” he said. “I’m never going to run around the issue of low-carbohydrate diets. I’ll also always try to help those who like sweets and dessert – you.”