Professor of Food Science and Nutrition from Avinashalingam Institute, Coimbatore, S. Kowsalya has emphasised the need for food scientists to focus on technology that minimises nutrient loss during processing.
Participating in the inaugural function of National Nutrition Week 2024 and Global Bio India Roadshow 2024 at CSIR-CFTRI in Mysuru on Monday, Prof. Kowsalya referred to a study on 111 food items taken from across India that were “totally deficient” of 11 nutrients while making out a case for preferring traditional food over fast food.
She also called for policy interventions and behavioural change to increase the intake of fruits and vegetables. Even though cost may be involved in the transformation towards consumption of fruits, Prof. Kowsalya said at least seasonal fruits need to be consumed.
She also pointed out that over-dependence on processed foods, energy drinks, artificial sweeteners and fast foods had become one of the causes for lifestyle diseases.
On the occasion, Prof. Kowsalya also brought up a 1964 journal authored by CFTRI’s founder director V. Subraymanyam emphasising the need for greater collaboration between food technologists and nutritionists.
As a nutritionist, Prof. Kowsalya said even now nutritionists are dependent on food technologists for advice but added that “we cannot always tell people to eat processed food”.
CFTRI Director Sridevi Annapurna Singh, in his presidential remarks, pointed out that diet and disease were ‘inter-related’ and there was a need for people to be eating the kind of food that makes them immune to diseases.
In the earlier days of food processing, Mr. Singh said food scientists were looking towards enhancement of shelf life. For, a large quantity of food produced in India was going waste due to poor shelf-life.
“We started removing brawn and polishing the rice and refining oils and wheat. All of this probably compromised the quality of nutrients that were present. Forty-Fifty years down the line, the so-called non-nutrients we were removing from the grains, were actually giving health benefits”, she said.
However, she said food processing now has to not only extend shelf life of food but also retain its nutrients. Food technology now has to cater food to a large population with convenience and less cost while also ensuring health as well as nutrition to the people, she said.
She also pointed out that “lesser and lesser” people were cooking food at home in India today and referred to advertisements of houses put up for rent or sale in Bengaluru where the kitchen was missing in Bedroom Hall Kitchens(BHKs). “It means kitchens were not present in houses that were put up for rent or sale. It means that eating processed food available in the market was the trend,” she said.
Senior Manager, Technical, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Government of India, Prachi Agarwal, guest of honour spoke about the upcoming Global Bio India Roadshow 2024.
