Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT) has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Andhra Pradesh government for the development of food processing sector in that State. The Thanjavur-based IIFPT is a premier national institute under the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
As per the memorandum, the IIFPT would work with the Andhra Pradesh government for developing technologies to increase efficiency and reduce post harvest losses for the food industry stakeholders. The institute has also expressed its readiness to extend support in finding sources for new food products, integrate human resources in food industries, reduce costs and modernise food processing in the State. The IIFPT would also guide line departments, including Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries, Animal husbandry, Dairy Development, to realise potential available with the State’s food sector, according to IIFPT Director C. Anandharamakrishnan.
The memorandum was signed in the presence of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during the Food Processing Summit organised by the Andhra Pradesh government recently.
Dr. Anandharamakrishnan observed that the IIFPT was working on finding permanent solutions to problems such as deterioration of nutritional quality, impact on humans due to indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides in storage facilities and difficulties in management of stored foodgrains.
One research, funded by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, was on multi-layered bags such as hermetic storage, cocoon storage and bulk storage of grains in silos as an alternative to traditional bag storage system. Another project was on spice storage and management protocols and was funded by the Department of Science and Technology.
The IIFPT was also working on an Indo-United Kingdom collaborative project, ‘Graincare,’ which is aimed at developing modern, low-cost, sensor and mobile Apps for comprehensive monitoring and correction of faults during drying and storage of foodgrains to cut down post harvest losses and maintain nutritional qualities of dried grains, Dr. Anandharamakrishnan said.
