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Mysore food centre tackles mystery of fluffy idlis

Narayanan Madhavan in Mysore

What would you like blue ice-cream, maize noodles, or banana wine?

In this sleepy southern Indian town of Mysore, somebody with a Ph.D can guide you through a maze of techniques that could help you cut costs or boost profits with a mixture of traditional foodstuffs and advanced science.

Located in a former maharaja's palace surrounded by bougainvillea bushes and swaying palms, the Central Food Technological Research Institute dreams up strange brews.

Some 350 scientists in the state-run institute spend much of their time helping food companies hatch new schemes to make money, but its original purpose is to assist struggling farmers and the undernourished poor.

Vishweshwaraiah Prakash, the institute's director, grumbles about the cost of furnishing its huge rooms at the heart of the 168-acre campus, but is glad that it has the space for experts from various disciplines to bounce new ideas off one another.

"It takes a chemist, a physicist, a mathematician and a chemical engineer to say what makes an 'idli' puff?" Prakash said. "And no two idlis are the same."

Prakash is talking about the steam-baked fermented rice cake which is a popular breakfast item in the south. But, with a Ph.D on seed proteins in the United States, he is re-thinking an old delicacy.

"Why did your grandma's dosa taste better?" he asks. "Your grandmother was good, but you can be equally good."

CFTRI now has a patents for a dosa-making machine that churns out 400 of the crisp-fried dosas.

These and a US patent on noodles made with maize are among the 270-odd patents held by the institute, which trains foodie entrepreneurs and conducts postgraduate courses to turn out experts who work for food brands like Pilsbury, Nestle and Cadbury's.

CFTRI sees a big role in value-added foods in India, whose annual turnover it expects to soar to Rs 2,250 billion by 2005 from the current Rs 800 billion.

Serious mission

The 52-year-old institute began when India was struggling to cope with food shortages and a growing population and, Prakash says, the serious mission behind the money-spinning ideas is the nation's food security.

In the 1950s, when India's foreign exchange ran scarce, and cow's milk was rare, CFTRI developed a baby food based on buffalo's milk, which is difficult to digest because of its high fat content.

This resulted in the launch in 1961 of Amul, which is now a top brand for cheese and ice cream as well.

CFTRI's blue colouring, which can be used in the making of exotic-looking ice-creams, is a byproduct of its work in perfecting the production of spirulina, a protein-rich food for the poor made from blue-green algae floating in water.

The institute has a patent to make phycocyanin, the chemical that gives a natural blue colour.

Prakash said in the 1960s, the institute focused on increasing the shelf-life of crops like paddy, sugarcane and vegetables, and its research included a wide range of activities from fumigation to packaging.

The focus shifted to nutrition for women in the 1970s, and more fundamental research came a decade later. Gradually, CFTRI progressed to more commercial areas like instant foods, but has had an eye firmly on helping the farmers and the poor.

When Gujarat was devastated by modern India's worst earthquake last year, Prakash's team moved fast to help victims, shipping within two days 60,000 packets of non-perishable, ready-to-eat puffed rice and mango fruit bars.

A clone for Coke

In addition, CFTRI has built a commercial portfolio of techniques and consultancy services, and has brought modern science to local crops and an estimated 3,500 traditional foods.

It has developed 30 instant foods since 1965, helping housewives make quick-fix versions of exotic dishes like 'gulab jamun.' A dozen of India's top pickle-makers use CFTRI processes, institute officials say.

The institute was in the political spotlight in 1977, when India's then industry minister George Fernandes, a firebrand socialist, expelled Coca-Cola from the country and wanted state-owned Modern Foods to make a brew that tasted like Coke.

CFRI's alternative was called '77' (Double Seven) after the year of Coke's exit.

"It failed because of marketing," Prakash said ruefully.

Modern Foods has since been privatised, and, as a unit of Hindustan Lever Ltd, uses CFTRI's technique to make high-protein biscuits.

India is liberalising fast and the focus has changed.

"Somebody has to smell the profit," a spokeswoman said. "Somebody has to go to the market with a big bang."

An instant-coffee-like tea concentrate, and a wine-like drink made from fermented banana juice are among products which CFTRI officials say offer scope for commercial exploitation.

Prakash, who has introduced ISO 9001 quality processes and a nationwide computer network for food scientists, said CFTRI looked forward to an emerging union between biotechnology and food techniques in the 21st century.

CFTRI's scientists plan to work on foods to give quick-energy bursts for athletes - and low-energy products for those who just cannot resist. "Let us think of a fat which feels like butter but has zero fat," Prakash said.

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