Sago starch was hydrolyzed using either chemical agents, or enzymes at various pH and concentrations. Hydrolysis using 5000 AUN/ ml (0.5%, w/v) glucoamylase exhibited the highest itaconic acid yield up to 0.36 g/g sago starch, whereas hydrolysis using nitric acid at pH 2.0 yielded 0.35 g/g sago starch. The medium was optimized and the composition was (g/l) 140 sago starch, 1.8 corn steep liquor, 1.2MgSO(4) center dot 7H(2)O and 2.9NH(4)NO(3). When the optimal conditions of hydrolysis and medium composition were applied to itaconic acid production in a 3-1 jar fermentor, the itaconic acid production was 48.2 g/l with a yield of 0.34 g/g sago starch. This was filtered from the cultured broth and 37.1 g of itaconic acid was recovered with a purity of 97.2%. This result showed that sago starch could be converted to a value-added product with only a simple pretreatment. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.