The Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) pulled in a heavy crowd during the ICAR industry meet,held at the National Agriculture Science Center (NASC) complex in New Delhi on Monday. The event was organised to provide an interactive forum between Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) for making agriculture more sustainable and diversified. There was special focus on empowering the food processing sector for value addition and reducing losses in agriculture. Union Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industry Sharad Pawar showed keen interest in the technologies developed by CIPHET while visiting their stall at the exhibition organised on the sidelines of the meet. Recently,CIPHET has taken an initiative in the development of functional food products by using technology of micro-encapsulation,which could take product development to a new level, said Dr Nilesh Gaikwad,Transfer of Technology Division Scientist,as he explained the utility of the technology to Pawar. Another attraction at the exhibition was a meat-cutter,which could speed up the process of chopping and cutting meat products. It can also be highly useful for largescale production of burgers,patties and chicken nuggets. Besides this,CIPHET also showcased a hand-held pomegranate extractor,banana comb-cutter and displayed various technological protocols for food products.
