This Mumbai Professor Just Discovered A Way To Keep Your Idli Fresh Even After Three Years
Mumbai: Physics professor Vaishali Bambole has come up with a top-shelf idea. She and her team of professors and scientists have discovered a technology to preserve steamed food like idli and white dhokla for three years without adding any form of preservatives. The technology is efficient to keep intact the softness taste and nutritional value of the food.
Mumbai University¡¯s Physics professor Vaishali Bambole has come up with a top-shelf idea. She and her team of professors and scientists have discovered a technology to preserve steamed food like idli and white dhokla for three years without adding any form of preservatives. The technology is efficient to keep intact the softness, taste and nutritional value of the food.
The discovery is a much-needed breakthrough in packaging food for the armed forces, as well as for mass distribution in case of a natural calamity.
The food packets given out during disaster management last for only 90 days.
Dr Vaishali Bambole, 48, turned the concept into reality. She is now in the process of patenting the innovation.
Mumbai: Physics professor at Mumbai University, Dr Vaishali Bambole, says her department has discovered a technology to preserve Indian cuisines like idli, upma & white dhokla for 3 years without adding any preservatives or impacting its taste and nutritional value. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/HmJHFzqShh
¡ª ANI (@ANI) February 7, 2019
Dr V Bambole: I've been working on this since 2013. This is electron beam radiation technique. We've used this technology for the 1st time on cooked food. It can be used in packaging food for armed forces, astronauts as well as for mass distribution in case of natural calamity pic.twitter.com/RbIELcyPN4
¡ª ANI (@ANI) February 7, 2019
Dr Vaishali Bambole: We selected food items that contain less amount of oil & protein. Yesterday we opened idli after 3.5 years & that was still fresh. We experimented on several food items but got the best results in these 3 food items (upma, idli & white dhokla). https://t.co/7APKvwZG02
¡ª ANI (@ANI) February 7, 2019
In a report by Mid-day, she said, "I have worked extensively for the last 15 years on the use of electron beam irradiation (EBI) technology, and have been using it as a catalyst for chemical polymerisation. Being a clean route, it could be used as a disinfectant for food, thereby helping increase the shelf life."
Dr Bambole was keen on exploring the idea further and in 2013, presented it to the Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT), an independent unit of the department of atomic energy, who liked the concept and readily agreed to provide funding of Rs 45 Lakh for the research and setting up a bio-nano lab at the department of physics in Mumbai University.
The next step is to facilitate commercial production and export of Indian cuisine and ready-to-eat food items.
