The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), a premier CSIR lab in Mysuru, is mulling over developing a dedicated plant on its premises here to prepare foods to be supplied during natural disasters. It has proposed to develop certain foods with a shelf life of at least six months.
The institute is said to have broached the idea with the National Disaster Management Authority, which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs,and has proposed to establish the plant if it gets special funding from the government.
CFTRI has been supplying relief foods during calamities since the tsunami in 2004. The most recent disaster was the flood in Kerala and Kodagu. Relief foods were prepared at four of its pilot food plants which are otherwise facilities for demonstration on how its various food technologies can be commercialised. It does not have an out-and-out facility as such.
Responding to a question from The Hindu here on Sunday, CFTRI director K.S.M.S. Raghavarao said, “Our idea is to keep certain foods ready for immediate distribution whenever disasters strike. Ready-to-eat foods with a shelf life of six months can be prepared in advance and kept ready for distribution. No matter if they remain unused. Foods can be distributed instantly instead of waiting until they are prepared. It can be part of disaster management as well, minimising the response time.”
He said more nutrition-rich foods were on the anvil to address nutritional deficiencies among children, pregnant woman and lactating mothers. One such food is ‘soft sweet rice’, a reconstitutable food product, most suitable for infants and children because of its taste, softness and nutrition value. “It’s almost like payasam. The standardisation process is on and a launch is expected. It can be supplied to children in affected areas during disasters,” he added.
Over the years, the CFTRI has also studied foods suitable for distribution depending on regional preferences.
“Since Odisha prefers rice, we have prepared instant poha that is nearest to rice. We have simplified poha preparation as well, focussing more on ready-to-eat food products. This is based on the feedback we got during the Kerala flood,” he said. Shashikala, from the Department of Protein Chemistry, and Srinivas, head, Grain Science Technology, said the packaging was such that the food could be eaten by adding water into the pouch.
