Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore, has developed an array of food products and technologies that can provide convenience, nutrition and calories apart from ensuring shelf stability and microbiological safety, keeping the requirements of Indian Armed Forces in mind.
Further, for civilian markets as well, these technologies have huge potential both in India and abroad, according to a presentation on Commercialisation of Food Technologies and Products Developed for Indian Armed Forces to Domestic and International Market Strategies. This presentation was made available to newspersons here recently.
The products and technologies that have been developed include frozen foods, and anti-depression, anti-anxiety, anti-fatigue and performance-enhancing foods or nutraceuticals.
“Armed Forces often operate in farflung inhospitable treacherous terrains under inclement and hostile weather conditions. In such operational situations, not only are they deprived of fresh products needed to sustain the life processes, even normal regime of cooking becomes extremely cumbersome and difficult,” said S Radhakrishna, director, Industry Interface and Technology Management, DRDO, in the presentation.
“In these conditions, the troops need the food that has long shelf life while retaining the flavour and nutrition value. Therefore it is essential to design and engineer lightweight, convenience packs rations for Army, Navy and Air Force and other paramilitary forces that do not require any elaborate cooking or preparation at the consumer’s end and remain shelf-stable under varying climatic conditions for periods ranging from six months to one year,” he added.
DRDO’s food technology laboratory DFRL-developed products and technologies have been commercialised in more than 500 technology transfers to about 200 industries and entrepreneurs. However commercialisation of these technologies has its own challenges.
Some of the new technologies adopted for food processing and for ensuring increased shelf life include pulsed electric field, infrared, high pressure, microwave, irradiation and combination processing of foods. It has also developed a molecular biology-based rapid detection kit for food pathogens.
The laboratory regularly interacts with institutes like the Coconut Development Board, Kochi; ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI); Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS); department of biotechnology, ministry of science & technology; Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore; University of Mysore; National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad; National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore; Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai; Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore; and Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology, Mysore.
