Techno Blaze

India processes only 2% of fruits, vegetables

NEW DELHI: India processes only two percent of its fruits and vegetables as against 65-83 percent in some countries.

Sharad Pawar, Union Minister for Agriculture inaugurating the Fruit and Vegetable Summit here said that 65 per cent of the fruits and vegetables were processed in the US, 70 per cent in Brazil, 78 per cent in the Philippines, 80 per cent in South Africa and 83 per cent in Malaysia.

Due to rapid expansion of internal and external market and processing industries, it is essential to develop such techniques, which reduce post harvest losses, do value addition and improve quality of the product, he said.

Sharad Pawar has asked the private sector and Government agencies to work together to remove the problems faced by the horticulture sector so as to tap its huge potential.

The Minister said that stress on crop diversification in the last few years has led to fast rise in horticultural production to 185.2 MT. However, he said, ‘the sector is constrained by widespread fragmentation in the supply chain, low productivity levels, and huge post harvest losses arising out of inadequate storage, cold chain and transport infrastructure, logistics and supply chain management’.

Shri Pawar also called for adoption of modern technology, making use and provisions under the National Horticulture Mission and using research infrastructure of ICAR and State Agriculture Universities. At the same time,

He said that there is a need to stimulate private investment, particularly in the field of infrastructure, marketing and research and development with particular emphasis in organizing production programmes to cater to the needs of the processing industry and exports’.

Addressing the Summit, Secretary Agriculture & Cooperation, Dr. P.K. Mishra said that agriculture has seen revival in the last three years and is poised for the second green revolution. Horticulture sector will contribute significantly in this revolution.

For this, emphasis will need to be put on productivity, quality consciousness and reduction in post harvest losses, he said.

The two-day Summit is being organized by CII and Ministry of Agriculture. Representatives from industries, central and state governments, agriculture promotion agencies and experts are participating in the Summit.

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/topstory/newsdetails.php?id=8251

Now, get ready to beat the summer with fish ice creams

THE traditional concept of the fishing industry is changing. Fish is not only for making curry, fry, cutlet or soups, but tasty ice cream and noodles can also be made of fish flesh.

In a major invention that may be a boost to the food processing sector, Kochi-based Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), one of the leading fishery research institute in the country, has developed a technology to prepare nutrition enriched ice cream and noodles using fish.

Named as `Maricream', cooked cuttle fish is the major ingredient for Ice cream. Water, sugar, butter, egg white, flavouring substances, stabilisers and emulsifiers are the other ingredients.

The mixture is whipped and pasteurised to form a rigid foamy substance and is finally frozen at -20 degree Celsius. The ice cream is deodourised and will not have the smell of fish.

"Since Maricream is prepared based on the principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control, Good Manufacturing Practice and Standard Sanitary Operating Procedure, precautionary measures have been taken at all steps of processing. Due to these scientific precautions, the ice cream will be bacteria free," said K Devadasan of CIFT.

Fish noodles are prepared by incorporating edible fish powdering made of small bony fish using commercial noodle-making machine.

Fish flavour and taste are found to be good in boiled and dried fish noodles.

"Fish noodles are healthy and tasty and will be something different from the conventional noodles," Devadasan said. He also said that CIFT was ready to facilitate entrepreneurs who are interested in the commercial production.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEB20080512151841&Page=B&Title=Business&Topic=0

Tamilnadu Agricultural University

B.Tech. (FOOD PROCESS ENGINEERING)
Agricultural production in India has made rapid strides in the past three decades and enabled us to achieve self sufficiency in food grains. Significant increase have also been achieved in the production of fruits, vegetables, milk, egg, meat and other food products. However, less than 1% of our total horticultural produce is processed as compared to more than 60% in developed countries. It is estimated that the post harvest losses in durable commodities are around 10% and in perishables about 40%, resulting in a value loss of the order of Rs.50,000 crores a year, because of the inadequate processing technologies, infrastructure facilities and qualified technical personnel. In the present scenario of economic liberalization, GATT agreement and changing food consumption habits, the Indian Food Industry will shift to foods that demand more appropriate handling, processing, preservation, storage and marketing resulting in greater protein intake besides making the Indian food products internationally competitive.

Present status of Indian agriculture and food processing industries clearly indicate that India has the potential to be the largest food factory. The worth of value added foods produced from these food industries is estimated to reach Rs.2,25,000/- crores by 2005 from Rs.80,000 crores of present level.

To meet out the challenges in the food processing industry, adequate number of qualified technical personnel in food process engineering is the need of the hour. Anticipating the high demand of technical personnel in the field of Food Process Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has started the B.Tech. course in Food Process Engineering from the academic year 1998-99 with an annual intake of 20 students and the programme is being offered at College of Agricultural Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.

The objective of B.Tech.(Food Process Engineering) programme is to train the best talents of the nation in order to provide a support base for the country’s food security. The syllabus is framed to enable the students to comprehend the whole gamut of the fast changing food scenario of the world.

The programme is designed to expose the students to the state-of-art laboratory facilities created with assistance from Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt. of India; Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR); Govt. of Tamil Nadu and various other agencies. Hands-on training in commercial food processing industries, students’ project work, exposure to national and international seminars and multi-disciplinary approach are the highlights of this course.

The B.Tech.(Food Process Engineering) course is being patronized mainly by four departments viz., (1) Agricultural Processing, (2) Farm Power and Machinery, (3) Bio Energy, (4) Soil and Water Conservation and Agricultural Structures. The thrust of each department in respect of their activities is three fold, viz., teaching, research and extension education, which are carried out in an integrated manner.

PROFILE OF COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING, COIMBATORE

The College of Agricultural Engineering, Coimbatore is one of the constituent colleges of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. This is the first college started in South India for providing an Agricultural Engineering degree. The first batch of students was admitted in July 1972. Masters degree programme, M.E.(Ag.) was started during the year 1977 and Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering was started in the year 1987.

ACTIVITIES AT COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING

Department of Agricultural Processing

The department was established in 1974 for the purpose of teaching, research and extension in Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering. It is having well established laboratories like Unit Operations Lab, Properties Lab for Biological Materials, Post Harvest Technology Lab, Crop Process Engineering Lab, Heat and Mass Transfer Lab, Food and Dairy Engineering Lab, Materials Handling Lab, Machine Tools Lab, CAD/CAM Lab, etc.,

The following are the major areas of research in the department of Agricultural Processing:

Design and development of food processing equipments
Processing of fruits and vegetables
Preservation of intermediate moisture foods
Vacuum, modified and controlled atmosphere packaging technology
Membrane separation technology
Freeze drying of perishable commodities
Extrusion cooking and food product development
Extraction of oleoresins and essential oils
Development of value-added products
Agricultural wastes and by-products utilization and management

Farm Power and Machinery
The department is well equipped with number of laboratories like Heat Engines Lab, Traction Lab, Soil Dynamics Lab, Ergonomics Lab, Electrical and Instrumentation Lab, Machine shop with carpentry, fitting, welding, smithy and foundry facilities. The department has a range of research interest in the areas of development of Farm Implements and Machinery suitable for different agro-climatic zones of Tamil Nadu and for different cropping systems.

Bio Energy
The department was established in the year 1982 for the purpose of teaching, research and extension in Renewable Energy Sources for agriculture and agro-based industries. The department has well developed laboratories like Fuel Testing Lab, Biochemical Engineering Lab, Wood Gasifier Testing Lab, Solar Energy Lab, Wind Mill Testing Lab, Biogas Lab, Chulha Testing Lab and workshop facilities for fabrication and testing. Areas of research include utilization of solar energy and solar photo-voltaic systems, fuel cell power plants, biomass gasification, alcohol production technology, wind mills, biogas and smokeless stoves.

Soil and Water Conservation and Agricultural Structures.The department is equipped with Soil and Water Conservation Lab, Soil Mechanics Lab, Hydraulic Machinery Lab, Fluid Mechanics Lab, Surveying Lab and Strength of Materials Lab. The department has research activities in the areas of sprinkler and micro irrigation, on-farm irrigation methods, water management and use of plastics in agriculture.

NRI quota: Five seats are allotted under NRI quota. ?The minimum qualification for admission under this quota is as follows:

1. Upper age limit: 25 years

2. Minimum marks: Pass in the qualifying examination with the following

subjects:
i Maths
ii Physics and iii. Chemistry
3. Fee: US$ 2100 per semester

For further details contact:
Dean(Agriculture) and Chairman Admissions
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
Coimbatore – 64 1 003
Phone: 91-422- 6611210
Fax: 91-422-6611410
E-mail: ugadmissions @tnau.ac.in
http://www.tnau.ac.in/ugadmi/btech/btech/page9.html

TNAU offers industry-oriented courses

Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University will offer two industry-oriented courses to encourage entrepreneurial, management and business skills among agri-students, besides its regular degree courses.

According to a TNAU release, the courses – B.Tech. (Food Process Engineering) and B.Tech. (Energy and Environmental Engineering) – are approved by the All India Council for Technical Education and accredited by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

Graduates who complete the programme in food processing can get employment opportunities in fruit, vegetable, spices, beverages, dairy, sugar, meat, poultry and food processing equipment manufacturing industry.

Graduates completing the programme in the energy and environmental engineering can find employment in pollution control and energy conservation, sugar industry, paper and pulp industries, dyeing and textile, tanneries and waste recycling, solar and wind energy, biomass energy and other such industries.

For these and other courses, the eligibility criteria have been revised as per the Government norms. Candidates competing under the open competition should have 55 per cent aggregate. Backward candidates need to have 50 per cent, while candidates from MBC and denotified communities require 45 per cent. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates should have a pass in Plus Two.

For details contact 0422-6611210 / 6611322 / 6611328; or visit

www.tnau.ac.in. Issues of applications are on till June 9.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/21/stories/2008052150350200.htm

Robot chef who can make rasam, sambar
Chennai, May 20: Here is a chef that can prepare lip-smacking sambar, rasam and vatta kozhambu and may give the best cooks in Tamil Nadu a run for their money. But the secret of Chef-bot's culinary skills lies not in a kitchen but in a laboratory.

Four students of the Saveetha Engineering College in Sriperumbudur, Chennai's industrial suburb, have designed a robot, Chef-bot, as part of their college project. As of now, Chef-bot's skills are limited to Tamil preparations.

This chef serves sambar, the most complicated among these dishes, in 24 minutes, vatta kozhambu in 18 minutes and rasam in 10 minutes

What more could a working man or woman want at the end of a hard day at work? A piping hot dinner for as many as four people!

The contraption looks like a canteen cart in a plane. A command panel controls operations. The robot is programmed to chop, mix and stir and cook. One has to feed in the menu.

The ingredients, like vegetables, lentils, spices, salt, tamarind and water are on the first shelve. The output container is in the last shelve.

Jesley Jose, M. Jambulingam, P. Chembian and Aravind Ganesh are ecstatic about the result, hoping the kitchen assistant model will be picked up especially by south Indian students abroad, dying for authentic sambar and rasam.

The project will be showcased at an international conference on embedded systems applications in July at Las Vegas, in the US.

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=62363

Chennai firm's new technology brings down fuel cost

By Jatindra Dash, Bhubaneswar, May 20 : It may now be possible to bring down the cost of emulsified fuel and also reduce India's dependence on crude imports, thanks to a new technology developed by a Chennai company. "The technology we have developed does not use any additive or surfactant," says Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan, managing director and inventor of Chennai-based Hydrodrive Systems and Controls.

"We do emulsification through a molecular engineering process, which has already been covered by a patent granted in several countries including Britain, Canada, India, the Philippines and patent pending in China, Japan and the US," Gopalakrishnan, 56, told IANS.

An emulsified fuel, used in internal combustion engines and for combustion in boilers, furnaces and external combustion equipment, is a mixture of water in fuels. A known technology since 1900, it is considered eco-friendly because it reduces emission.

As oil and water generally do not mix, costly special additives or surfactants are used for surface tension modifications to manufacture emulsified fuels by mixing them and to retain stability for a longer period without oil and water getting separated.
Emulsified fuels currently sold by five European manufacturers are costlier than the conventional diesel fuel due to the use of costlier surfactants or additives.

The fuel produced for use in the internal combustion engines has minimum 10 percent to maximum 20 percent water in diesel. Due to the higher price compared to the conventional diesel fuel, the emulsified fuel marketing companies are unable to push the product and are dependent upon tax incentives.

"Our technology burns 25 percent water in 75 percent diesel as against the maximum 20 percent water in the diesel emulsion achieved by existing producers," said Gopalakrishnan, a mechanical engineer with a management degree who set up Hydrodrive in 1981.

He added that the manufacturing process developed by his firm brings down the fuel cost to much below the cost of the conventional diesel or petrol or kerosene.

"India's Super Auto Forge Limited which manufactures cold forged/cold extruded steel and aluminium components for the automotive industry has found after six months of testing that it saves fuel

"Similarly the technology was tested in a tractor in the US and a vehicle in Canada. Both were found working without a problem. More tests are also in progress," he said.

"We are now commercially offering the on-demand emulsification plant on a 14-year licence to individual industrial fuel users to cut down their fuel expenses," Gopalakrishnan said.

He added that investment on the emulsification plant would be recoverable within 10 to 12 months through savings made in fuel consumption.

Gopalakrishnan said the new technology could help reduce India's dependence on costly crude oil imports.

"If we use emulsified fuels with 20-25 percent water in all middle distillates and heavy distillates, which account for over 70 percent of the imported crude consumption, this will result in a saving of Rs.34,048 crore (Rs.340.48 billion or approximately $8 billion)," he said.

(Jatindra Dash can be contacted at jatindra.d@ians.in)

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=62276

After IT Parks, Tamil Nadu to get Medical Technology Parks
Chennai, May 20: In the first ever such initiative in the country, one of India's largest medical technicology companies 'Trivitron', will put up a medical technology park to develop high quality, cost-effective medical technology products, suited to the needs of developing countries.

Announcing this at a press conference after laying the foundation stone for the park at the SIPCOT Industrial park at Irungattukottai near here yesterday, Managing Director of the Trivitron Group Dr G S K Velu said the medical equipment would be in the areas of critical care, cardiac care, imaging and routine laboratory diagnostics

''The aim is to position India as an alternate viable low cost manufacturing hub in the global manufacturing map of medical technology products,'' Dr Velu said.

The park which would be spread over an area of 23 acres would have an investment of more than Rs 250 crore in the first phase.
To be executed in three joint ventures with Aloka from Japan, Biosystems of Spain and Brandon Medical, an UK company, the park will manufacture Black and White Ultrasound Systems and colour dopplers, wide range of diagnostic reagents and shadowless high end operating theatre lights.

Initially, Trivitron would use 15 acres of land to manufacture its products through technology transfer arrangements and the remaining ten acres would be allotted to the three joint venture companies, he said.

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=62214

Centre to set up Vaccine, Medical park in TN: Minister
Chennai, May 17: The Union Health Ministry will set up a world class state-of-the-art Vaccine and Medical park at Chengalpet, about 65 km from here, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss announced today.

Talking to newspersons here, he said of the 400 acre of land available with the Union Health Ministry at Chengalpet, 200 acre would be utilised for setting up the vaccine park and the medical park would come up in the remaining area.
Of the 200 acre meant for vaccine park, 100 would be utilised for setting up a vaccine manufacturing centre with an Investment of Rs 300 to 500 crore.

The Centre, with the highest World Health Organisation (WHO) pre-qualification grade norm, would manufacture all kinds of vaccines that would cater to India's future immunisation programme. Vaccine research would also be undertaken at the Centre.
''Besides, we will also be exporting the immunisation vaccines to other developing countires'', Dr Anbumani said and added that the balance 100 acre would be given for private firms willing to invest in this Medical SEZ for manufacturing various types of vaccines.

All the preliminary works have started and this world's best vaccine manufacturing centre would become operational in two years.

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=61476

China: Promotion of Advanced Straw Utilization Technologies in Jiangsu Region

Development objective of the assistance:

In the medium term, better utilization of straw will reduce air pollution and water contamination, improve the general ecological environment, and enhance soil fertility and increase crop productivity and farmers’ income.

Immediate objectives of the assistance:
• To introduce, demonstrate and extend advanced on-farm technologies for efficient straw utilization such as conservation agriculture (recycling-straw-to-soil), feeding straw to livestock and growing mushrooms on straw medium:
• To train local technicians by enhancing their capacity to provide technical guidance to farmers in integrated utilization of straw;
• To conduct technical training for village-level technicians and local farmers to enable them to adopt one or two key techniques of straw utilization and to increase their awareness of the harmful effects of the improper treatment of surplus straw and the importance of integrated straw utilization;
• To raise the straw utilization rate in the project area by 15 percent (from 80 percent to 95 percent).

http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/doc/WorkPaperKorea.pdf

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