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IIHR adopts osmotic dehydration to up shelf life in fruits & vegetables
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Wednesday, 28 March, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
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The Indian Institute of Horticulture (IIHR) has now started using the osmotic dehydration process to allow fruits and vegetables to have longer shelf life even when stored at room temperature for a year. The dehydration process has several advantages including improved product quality, lesser energy requirements, longer shelf life and better retention of nutritional characteristics.
"We have used the osmotic dehydration process for different fruits such as mango, pineapple, papaya, banana, amla, jackfruit and guava. In the case of vegetables, carrot and pumpkin have been successfully dehydrated into shelf-stable slices which can be stored at room temperature for one year," said Dr R B Tiwari, scientist, post harvest technology department, Indian Institute of Horticulture and Research, Bengaluru.
"Osmotically dehydrated slices are highly nutritious. In the dehydrated slices, carotenoids are high. The sliced fruits and vegetables can be used alone or as an adjuvant with other dried fruits like cashew, almond and dates. These products are in high demand in the confectionary and dessert-ice-cream industries and bakery products," he added.
Fruits and vegetables, which are dehydrated are suitable for children, mountaineers and defence forces located in remote and inaccessible areas where the personnel put up with harsh weather conditions. Here carrying these products becomes far lighter, easy to consume and provides high energy levels.
There are also several companies including Naturo Foods, MPS Foods, ITC Foods, MTR Foods, and Perfetti among others, which are developing fruit bars or using these dehydrated fruits and vegetables for ready-to-eat products.
In the fruit bars, specifically mango bars manufactured by companies, it is noted that carotenoid content is high and therefore even storing the dehydrated fruit could still provide the required nutritious content.
India is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. It has an annual fruit production of 71.5 million metric tonnes and 133.7 million metric tonnes of vegetables. In human nutrition, fruits and vegetables play an important role towards providing a balanced diet and prevention of several chronic diseases. Fruits and vegetables provide 90 per cent of vitamin C and 60 per cent vitamin A.
"However being perishable and seasonal, fruit and vegetable availability is difficult and therefore there is need for value addition into convenient dehydrated products. Based on the type of fruits, about 8 to 12 kg are required to make one kg of final osmo-dried product and final product yield varies from 30 to 40 per cent in volume. The dehydrated products are suitable for manufacture by small and medium sized industries," said Dr Tiwari.
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