A soy oil processing tech may help fight malnutrition in MP

As the name suggests,EAAE uses enzymes and water as extraction aid,unlike the solvents,and leaves no residue.

Scientists from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and state agriculture universities across India are currently undergoing training in nascent technologies like these at the Bhopal-based Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (an ICAR institute).

Organised as part of the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP),the training,which is the first-such exercise,will enable scientists help give the common man access to fresh-processed food products with high sensory and nutritional qualities.

The focus on the non-thermal non-chemical (NTNC) processes in food processing and preservation may have resulted from the growing consumer demand in western countries but the technologies that resulted from that awareness could bring the benefits home.

Traditional methods like thermal energy (heat processing) and chemicals have been used successfully to increase the shelf life of foods but they take away nutrients,alter natural flavours,texture,colour and also leave chemical residues.

Despite abundant production,soybean is yet to become a favoured food choice because not everyone likes its taste,even in a state like MP,which for years has struggled to bring the malnutrition levels down.

Techniques like EAAE and Membrane Technology can be effectively employed to get soy protein isolates and soy protein concentrates,most of which is imported as of now. There are a few Indian producers but they are not doing well because they use the old alcohol or alkaline-based extraction methods that are not only more expensive but also compromise on quality.

Under the NAIP,four Indian scientists were sent to various state-of-the-art laboratories around the world to learn the non-thermal and non-chemical technologies so that they could be applied in Indian conditions of food processing.

Dr Dipika Agrahar Murugkar,an ICAR National Fellow who trained at the Iowa State University and is currently coordinating the training in Bhopal,told The Indian Express that the new technologies hold a great potential.

Some of the techniques are used in high-end products,e.g,Japan and the USA employ EAAE to process oysters,but they can be used in Indian conditions by easily reducing their costs to make them available to end-users.

The participants in Bhopal were exposed to NTNC techniques like high hydrostatic pressure processing,membrane separation,pulse electric field,ultra-sound,EAAE,enzyme engineering and technology in food processing among others and were demonstrated their impact on nutritional and functional parameters.

Techniques for particle size analysis,texture analysis,rheology,electrophoresis along with bio-chemical parameters were also demonstrated to participants to study the effects of NTNC processes vis a vis traditional processing techniques. Though some of these techniques have been tried out abroad their use in India has been very limited.