MYSURU:If all goes well, the state government’s ambitious Indira Canteen project may soon get a touch of technology: The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) plans to upgrade the food-making process in Indira Canteens run all over the state. The CFTRI is a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
Chief scientist and advisor of CFTRI R Subramanian told Express on Wednesday, “Soon, we will approach the government with a proposal to provide food-making machines developed by CFTRI to these canteens.”
He said the CFTRI has been producing more than 10 machines which make food items such as dosa, poori, chapathi and ragi mudde (ragi ball). Such machines can be used by these canteens to save food preparation time. “The machines prepare hygienic food. Also, with these machines, the canteens can be operated with less manpower,” he said.
The cost of these machines ranges from `1 lakh to `4 lakh. Elaborating on their advantages, Subramanian said the output of a dosa-making machine is up to 400 dosas per hour and the poori-making machine uses less oil.
“We don’t know whether the canteens are getting food from a centralised kitchen or each canteen has its own kitchen. Our machines have the capacity to produce food from a centralised kitchen also,” he said.
The CFTRI’s latest discovery was the ragi ball-making machine. These machines are automated. This will ease the functioning of the canteens, he said. “We have been supplying food supplements to the state government’s Women and Child Welfare Department for the past 30 years and they are distributing the same to the children,” he added.
Thousands of CFTRI’s food making machines are being used across the country, but till date, the government-run canteens of Karnataka and other states haven’t approached it to buy these machines.