War holds up wheat

The Tiruchirapalli-based National Research Centre for Banana has developed the technology for banana-based ready-to-serve carbonated beverages. Prepared from clarified banana juice, its nutritional value is much more than that of synthetic carbonated drinks. The process involves pulping ripe bananas, adding an enzyme added and then filtering the juice. The juice is diluted, and bolstered with sugar and citric acid. The drink has a shelf life of six months, and the cost of production is a mere Rs 2-3/bottle.

Giant in the veggie market

A Giant just stepped into the Indian fruit and vegetable market. The California-based fruit and vegetable seeds company Seminis — established in 1994 through the consolidation of 10 leading global vegetable and seed companies — inaugurated its state-of-the-art 500 MT plant in Chitegaon, Aurangabad, last week. The plant was commissioned in a record time of 120 days. Seminis markets its products under three brand names — Royal Sluis, Peto and Hungnong — in the 17 countries they operate in.

Not enough potato chips!

The Central Potato Research Institute Campus, Modipuram, organised a day-long conference on ‘Processing and Export Potential of Potatoes’ recently. Experts from Israel, Sri Lanka, Germany and Holland, apart from various Asian countries, participated in the conference, which was inaugurated by Shashi Mishra, secretary, Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Though India stands second and third respectively in Asia and the world in potato production, it accounts for only 0.3 per cent of total manufacture of processed potato products. The workshop concentrated on potato production technologies, post-harvest and storage technologies and processing and export opportunities.