<p>A full fledged Nutraceutical Food Park is all set to be established by Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), which will facilitate entrepreneurs develop new products and market them. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Ram Rajasekharan, Director, CSIR-CFTRI, told the media here, on Friday that the park was being set up in association with the State government, which would act as an active partner to entrepreneurs, while scientists of CFTRI would also joining hands with them. <br /><br />Claiming that the park would be the first of its kind in the country, he said that it was being established at an estimated cost of Rs 42.5 crore in the first phase on 2.5 acre of land belonging to the institute at M G Halli near Kalidasa Road. <br /><br />The State government would fund the project with Rs 38.5 crore, while CFTRI had set aside Rs five crore for setting up analytical and the essential high end facilities. <br /><br />Most of the products might have existed through traditional knowledge system. However, lack of scientific validation had limited their popularisation and use. Scientific data would be maintained regarding the researches done in the park. <br /><br />Rajasekharan said, the park would act as a incubation center for entrepreneurs who come up with novel ideas about the food products to increase the efficacy, aside from providing testing, development and marketing facilities. Farmers also will be benefitted with researches related to isolation of some active components in the products to ensure more profit.<br /><br />Mentioning about the ‘CSIR-800 and Tech Ville’ of the Institute, he said, the project envisaged reaching out the technologies developed by CSIR laboratories to the underprivileged in an effort to improve their quality of life. <br /><br />Pilot project<br /><br />As a pilot project, Haradanahalli village of Chamarajanagar district has been adopted in Karnataka where the institute will demonstrate turmeric processing technology through partnerships with the departments of state government and financial institutions. <br /><br />Coconut and banana of the district will also be taken up in later phases, he added. <br /><br />He indicated the adoption of more such villages in the State and neighbouring ones to help farmers to set up processing units. Rajasekharan said, Maharashtra had been requesting for the setting up of such units for mango and ginger, while Udupi would be assisted with researches related to fisheries. CFTRI is also working in identifying certain districts in North Karnataka like Raichur with problems related to malnutrition. <br /><br />With the ‘Molecular Nutrition’ being pegged as a futuristic area, CFTRI had set up Department of Molecular Nutrition at the Mysore campus to conduct biochemical as well as animal studies in the area. This would pave way for delivering nutrition more effectively through specially designed foods, Rajasekharan mentioned. <br />‘Lipics’<br />He noted that ‘Lipics’ (Lipidomics Centre In India) is a new center on the Bangalore campus in Allasandra, set up for understanding lipid or fat metabolism. He said, the center would set a milestone in studies related to Ocimum (Tulsi) and Portulaca (Doddagoni) whose seeds are said to contain oils rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. The researches would come as a boon to vegetarians as the omega-3 fatty acids is said to be more in non-vegetarian foods like fish. Lipics plans to look at the various mechanisms operating at the gene level with regard to lipid production and digestion as well. The center has already documented the transcriptome (all possible versions of products of omega-3 fatty acid genes) of the Mexican plant ‘Chia’. Chia seeds are globally popular as rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids and are used in traditional medicine. <br /></p>
<p>A full fledged Nutraceutical Food Park is all set to be established by Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), which will facilitate entrepreneurs develop new products and market them. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Ram Rajasekharan, Director, CSIR-CFTRI, told the media here, on Friday that the park was being set up in association with the State government, which would act as an active partner to entrepreneurs, while scientists of CFTRI would also joining hands with them. <br /><br />Claiming that the park would be the first of its kind in the country, he said that it was being established at an estimated cost of Rs 42.5 crore in the first phase on 2.5 acre of land belonging to the institute at M G Halli near Kalidasa Road. <br /><br />The State government would fund the project with Rs 38.5 crore, while CFTRI had set aside Rs five crore for setting up analytical and the essential high end facilities. <br /><br />Most of the products might have existed through traditional knowledge system. However, lack of scientific validation had limited their popularisation and use. Scientific data would be maintained regarding the researches done in the park. <br /><br />Rajasekharan said, the park would act as a incubation center for entrepreneurs who come up with novel ideas about the food products to increase the efficacy, aside from providing testing, development and marketing facilities. Farmers also will be benefitted with researches related to isolation of some active components in the products to ensure more profit.<br /><br />Mentioning about the ‘CSIR-800 and Tech Ville’ of the Institute, he said, the project envisaged reaching out the technologies developed by CSIR laboratories to the underprivileged in an effort to improve their quality of life. <br /><br />Pilot project<br /><br />As a pilot project, Haradanahalli village of Chamarajanagar district has been adopted in Karnataka where the institute will demonstrate turmeric processing technology through partnerships with the departments of state government and financial institutions. <br /><br />Coconut and banana of the district will also be taken up in later phases, he added. <br /><br />He indicated the adoption of more such villages in the State and neighbouring ones to help farmers to set up processing units. Rajasekharan said, Maharashtra had been requesting for the setting up of such units for mango and ginger, while Udupi would be assisted with researches related to fisheries. CFTRI is also working in identifying certain districts in North Karnataka like Raichur with problems related to malnutrition. <br /><br />With the ‘Molecular Nutrition’ being pegged as a futuristic area, CFTRI had set up Department of Molecular Nutrition at the Mysore campus to conduct biochemical as well as animal studies in the area. This would pave way for delivering nutrition more effectively through specially designed foods, Rajasekharan mentioned. <br />‘Lipics’<br />He noted that ‘Lipics’ (Lipidomics Centre In India) is a new center on the Bangalore campus in Allasandra, set up for understanding lipid or fat metabolism. He said, the center would set a milestone in studies related to Ocimum (Tulsi) and Portulaca (Doddagoni) whose seeds are said to contain oils rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. The researches would come as a boon to vegetarians as the omega-3 fatty acids is said to be more in non-vegetarian foods like fish. Lipics plans to look at the various mechanisms operating at the gene level with regard to lipid production and digestion as well. The center has already documented the transcriptome (all possible versions of products of omega-3 fatty acid genes) of the Mexican plant ‘Chia’. Chia seeds are globally popular as rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids and are used in traditional medicine. <br /></p>
