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DRDO, BASIX, FICCI launch Aahar project to serve ready-to-eat roti, dal
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Thursday, 01 March, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bangalore
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Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), BASIX, a social enterprise group, and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), have collaborated to launch Aahar - a pilot project comprising a range of ready-to-eat products. The project was launched in New Delhi on Tuesday by planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
The collaboration focusses on food technologies developed by the Mysore-based Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), part of DRDO. The objective of the project is to build women-oriented enterprises using food technologies of DFRL.
Aahar is the first pilot project that covers a set of technologies and products including ready-to-eat roti, and two variants in dal which are instant palak dal and masala channa curry mix. While a pack of two rotis is priced at Rs 15, a packet of dal will cost Rs 20.
Aahar is a hygienic, nutritious and convenient meal that tastes fresh with longer shelf life, and is quick to serve. While the roti has a shelf life of 15 days, the two variants of dal have a shelf life of 12 months under ambient conditions, according to Dr A S Bawa, director, DFRL.
Rotis are highly perishable and spoil within 24-36 hours depending upon storage conditions due to microbial spoilage. With DFRL technology, the shelf life has been extended to over 12 months to help retain nutrition and taste. For the instant dal and chana mix, cold shock dehydration technology has been patented by DFRL to make a variety of tasty convenience mixes which can be reconstituted within 6-8 minutes. “The products are suitable for long journeys, nutritional feeding, catering programmes and other similar civilian applications,” he added.
The pilot stage of the project commenced with women’s groups identified by BASIX. Women will be extensively trained to set up high quality and viable production units to make a variety of ready-to-eat and instant foods. Further, under this phase, the products will be tested to establish the technical viability, commercial scalability and consumer acceptance. Post the pilot phase is intended to scale-up the project and reach out to set up multiple production units catering to the needs of varied market segments and tap commercial opportunities. The test market for Aahar has just been concluded in Delhi and Bangalore.
“The initiative will go a long way in providing support to the economically backward communities as it will cushion them in large measure from food inflation that has been raging for some time now. It will also become a key instrument in meeting the challenge of providing our teeming millions with cheap, hygienic and nutritious food,” states Dr Rajiv Kumar, secretary-general, FICCI.
“We are using DFRL research to enhance food security for the masses by bringing this product to the market,” said Vijay Mahajan, MD, BASIX Group.
On a concluding note, Dr Saraswat, scientific advisor to raksha mantri and secretary, defence R&D, pointed out, “Through BASIX, the benefits of innovative food products could help generate employment at the bottom of the pyramid across the country.”
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