TIRUCHI

The ICAR- National Research Centre for Banana,Tiruchi, has transferred the technology for making banana flour and powder to Cake Bee, a city-based bakery and confectionery chain.

Besides Tiruchi, Cake Bee has a presence in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and other places in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The bakery chain is said to be keen on popularising banana-based products and a MoU was signed between the NRCB and Cake Bee on Friday.

Ripe banana’s short shelf life of 2-3 days causes high post-harvest losses. To overcome the problem, the NRCB had developed the technology for making flour from green banana and banana powder using low-cost foam mat drying and the same was transferred to the bakery.

Foam mat drying could be an alternative to the highly sophisticated spray and freeze drying. It offers a solution for utilisation of ripe, market rejected bananas for producing powder in a cost efficient way, making it a boon for small and capital-sensitive food industries, a NRCB press release said.

S. Uma, Director, NRCB, said the MoU would change the way banana was being handled and ensure quality products would be available to consumers. It could also help end price fluctuations and reduce the post-harvest loss of banana, she said.

The inventors of the technology P. Suresh Kumar and K.N. Shiva said that banana, a crop of choice for Tiruchi under One District One Product scheme, was ideal for making healthy, processed food products.

S.P. Sethu Subbaiah of Cake Bee Deli Fresh Pvt Ltd expressed hope that the new technologies learned from ICAR-NRCB will enable them to deliver quality and healthy food products to consumers and diversify their product portfolio with innovative options.