Meghalaya Governor C.H. Vijayashankar inaugurates Unit

Mysore/Mysuru: CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru, has developed a Mobile Processing Unit (MPU) for Northeast Region for processing of fruits and vegetables.

This was designed and developed for Northeast Centre for Technology Application & Reach (NECTAR), Shillong, an autonomous institute under DST, Government of India.

The Unit was inaugurated on Mar.13 by C.H. Vijayashankar, Governor of Meghalaya, in the presence of Dr. Arun Kumar Sarma, Director General, NECTAR and Dr. Giridhar Parvatam, Director, CSIR-CFTRI.

The chief objective of this MPU is to control or reduce wastage of huge quantities of fruits and vegetables in Northeast and present multiple possibilities for processing of fruits and vegetables on wheels at the doorsteps of medium and small holding farmers.

Besides, MPU also serves as a viable and profitable business opportunity that can substantially support the farmers and producers.

Further, skill development and promotion programmes would be organised on the processing of fruits and vegetables locally grown and value-added products like pulps, juices, beverages, canned products, dehydrated products, pickles, jams, etc., can be produced.

Funding and coordination of the project for efficient implementation was done by NECTAR.

Dr. Umesh Hebbar, Chief Scientist & Head, Food Engineering Department; Dr. Aashitosh A. Inamdar, Chief Scientist & Head, Technology Transfer and Business Development Department and H.N. Punil Kumar, Senior Technical Officer, Food Engineering Department of CSIR-CFTRI were present during the event.