JOIN USThough the huge state-of-the-art machines displayed on the premises of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in the city left the viewers awestruck, it was the mime that stole the show during the two-day ‘Open Day’ programme on Tuesday.
The CFTRI Open Day held on October 20 and 21, as a part of founders day of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on the theme ‘Food Safety’ has evoked good response with more than 7,000 people visiting the institute on day one.
The major attraction, this year, is the 15-minute audio visual show, a skit and the mime show performed by students pursuing MSc, PhD and other courses at CFTRI. A simple skit was performed, giving tips to children on maintaining personal cleanliness and hygiene and to avoid eating roadside food.
The Mime show with fluorescent lights performed in a dark hall was well received by the audience. The students highlighted the role of CFTRI during natural calamities like tsunami in 2004, Uttarakhand floods in 2013, etc. They demonstrated the distribution of food packets dispatched by CFTRI during the disaster and also how it has come to the rescue of farmers by extending support in cultivation of Chia seeds and other crops.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Anantharamakrishnan, co-ordinator of the Open Day programme, said students have worked hard to make the programme a success and it is held for the whole day at the auditorium with 250 seats.
Rava laddoo, dosa
The people visiting the popular institute, which opens doors for the public only once in a year, had the opportunity to watch huge automatic dosa making machines at the Food Engineering Department’s pilot plant. The machine has a capacity to make 400 dosas per hour. The moulding machines, which can make about 1,000 rava laddoos per hour was a surprise to the children who were present in large numbers. There was a chapathi-making machine which was also making khakras, a popular Gujarati food.
A scientist said the machines are in demand in industrial canteens. “The machines are designed by CFTRI and the fabrication and drawing are licensed to the manufacturers. Timing, consistency of the product fed into the machine, temperature, can be adjusted. All these play an important role in mass production,” he said.
Pani puri making machine, in which the sheeting and cutting is done, can make 6,000 pieces an hour while the spouted bed coffee roaster roasts coffee beans as per the desired level using hot air to prevent nutritional loss. Groundnuts, dals and other stuff can also be roasted in the machine. Hand-operated lemon cutting machine and urad vada-making machine too were on display.
A number of stalls displaying packets of ready-to-eat food, natural honey, food supplements like spirulina and others were also a hit.