CHENNAI: Riding on the union government’s millet revolution wave, the College of Food and Dairy Technology under the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) is busy sharing their technical expertise on manufacturing millet ice-creams with companies, and at the same time generate a revenue stream. The college had recently obtained a patent for manufacturing millet ice cream.
“At least three startups are currently working with us and preparing different millet ice creams and selling them under their own brand name. We are providing technical support and the startups are using our processing facility at the college’s incubation centre after paying a nominal membership fee,” said KS Pandian, in charge of food research incubation centre. He added that once sales and profitability increase for the startups, the college will ask for a share in the profit.
College officials said they are in talks with a few companies from other states to share their technical knowledge about millet ice creams. “Millet farmers are being encouraged to add value to their production by preparing millet ice cream. After the Centre’s initiative to promote millet production and consumption, the demand for millet based products has increased due to awareness about its health benefits,” said college officials.
The college developed a version of ice cream by reducing the fat content by replacing dairy products with millet milk. The nutrient quotient is higher in millet and to make the ice cream more flavourful and attractive, pulp of mango, jackfruit and other fruits were added to it. The college had received a patent for the ice-cream last year.
“If the companies are able to properly market their product and register a good sale, then millet ice-cream will ensure a steady revenue to the college,” said Pandian.
Survey to assess Class 5 students for Ennum Ezhuthum
Chennai: The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has asked government and aided schools to conduct a baseline survey for Class 5 students to assess their level of learning for the implementation of the Ennum Ezhuthum programme. The assessment will be conducted from June 21 to June 30 and will be used to divide the students into three categories. The students will be divided into ‘arumbu, mottu and malar’ depending on their levels. The last summative assessment conducted for Class 4 students will be used as the baseline survey for dividing them into groups. Weekly assessments will be held for the students in classes 1 to 5 to see if their learning has improved as per SCERT’s timetable. Training and teaching modules for the programme have also been prepared. ENS