Food technology to tackle severe acute malnutrition

Patent Filing No. 748/KOL/2014

Media Coverage: Business Standard Link, NDTV Link

1.    A brief description of the technology.

High energy and nutrient rich food paste as per WHO and UNICEF specifications is a “Medical Nutrition Therapy” based on sound scientific principles with a balanced composition of nutrients for the recovery of SAM children. Apart from anthropometric recovery, energy dense food paste results in physiological and functional (including immunological) recovery to tackle severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Five ready to eat (RTE) energy dense food paste recipes are formulated using the Linear Programming in MATLAB. Protein, fat, energy value, moisture content etc. as specified by the UNICEF/WHO standards are maintained as constraints. The prepared formulations were validated. Vitamin & Mineral premix is designed and formulated meeting the requirements as specified by the UNICEF. The developed high energy nutrient rich food pastes are easy digestible, palatable soft and crushable which require no additional method of preparation and can be consumed directly from the pouch / tube. These food pastes require no refrigeration and can be stored at room temperatures. The food paste has low water activity and is shelf stable.

2.     Commercial aspects of the technology & Industries benefiting from it.

The process technology for development of high energy nutrient rich food paste in ready to eat form is entirely new for the Indian market. The high energy nutrient rich food paste that are developed as a part of the project funded by (i) Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and (ii) M/s Gattappu Chemicals Private Limited, New Delhi. The products developed are to be scaled up to pilot scale production after which will be taken up by the industry for clinical trials and subsequent commercial production. A Pilot-Scale unit with a production capacity of 100kg/day is being set up at IIT Kharagpur. The objective of this product is to tackle cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition. The end users of this product are

·         Severe Acute Malnourished Children

·         Children with AIDS who is suffering from wasting

·         AIDS patients with nutritional deficiency

Accordingly suitable NGO’s, other food nutrition and food safety sectors can play a major partner role in taking the product to the required target group. The technology has been transferred to M/S Gattapu Chemical Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

3.     Advantages of this technology over the already existing methods.

The main purpose of this ready to eat food paste is to serve the essential nutrients and energy for the severely acute malnourished and favor growth and development.

·         The developed high energy nutrient rich food pastes are easy digestible, palatable soft and crushable which require no additional method of preparation and can be consumed directly from the pouch/tube.

·         This food paste requires no refrigeration and can be stored at room temperatures.

·         The food paste has a low water activity and is shelf stable.

·         The high energy nutrient rich food paste is mainly targeted to eradicate severe acute malnutrition at community level.

·         By shortening the duration of inpatient treatment from an average of 30 days to only 5-10 days, the move towards using food paste in the recovery phase of treatment reduces the resources needed to treat SAM, which improves cost-effectiveness.

4.     A summary of the technical details involved.

High energy and nutrient rich food pastes are made using local ingredients and indigenously developed process technology. Three recipes are made out of peanut and one from potato and one from Bengal gram. The formulations contain other energy rich ingredients like sugar, glucose, skimmed milk powder, soy protein isolate, mineral vitamin mix etc. These ingredients increases the nutritive and sensory value of the final product which are be liked by children community fulfilling the demand of suitable food for SAM children.

 The processing comprises of steps like roasting, grinding, mixing and colloidal milling. The vitamin and mineral premix designed uniquely for these formulations with proper deliverability and stability. The production of the RTE food paste includes various processes like roasting, grinding, mixing, and milling. The process parameter like mixing time and mixing speed are optimized for the mixing of the ingredients in a planetary mixer. Additives like stabilizer and emulsifier required to maintain the stability of the product are also optimized. After mixing the product is passed through colloidal mill to get a fine paste of smooth consistency. The product is then packed in flexible pouches/tubes and stored.

5.     Future prospects of the technology.

Formulations with the alteration of ingredients can be made possible and changes could be made to the technology developed. Further the technology can be used to develop products to deal with various stages of malnutrition. This technology will be an efficient tool to deal with food security aspects in the future.