Kings Infra Ventures Ltd. has signed a pact with the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT) for developing ready-to-eat and ready-to-serve fish products by adopting steam or water immersion technology capable of achieving very long shelf life under normal room temperature, without using any chemical additives or preservatives.
Read: August 2022 Issue of Food InfoTech Magazine.
Safe food products with very long shelf life in ambient storage conditions in accordance with the stipulations of the US FDA and other regulatory agencies would be the focus of the project.
The innovative project would also help in providing an opportunity for optimising ingredients, processing and heating conditions of the region-specific ethnic dishes, said Shaji Baby John Chairman and Managing Director of Kings Infra Ventures. Elimination of the need for special storage temperature is the main advantage of the project, he added. The ready-to-eat/serve delicacies would be packed either in metal cans or retortable pouches.
Commenting on the venture, CIFT Director Mrs. Leena Edwin lauded Kings Infra Ventures for taking the initiative for commercial utilisation of the technology. “We have developed several such innovative technologies that could act as catalysts for improving the value creation in the seafood sector. We hope to have a long-term partnership with Kings Infra Ventures in many other areas,” she added.
The two entities would also collaborate on a project on a modified method of Chitin and Chitosan production of shrimp shells and shrimps which are normally thrown away as waste material. The modified technology developed by ICAR-CIFT uses a specially designed machine which reduces chemical usage in the production of Chitin/Chitosan making the process more sustainable. The process helps in improving the quality of chitin and chitosan at a reduced cost. The effluent treatment cost is also reduced due to the cutting down in chemical usage. The protein separated can be used for many products including feed and other bio active molecules.
Mr.Shaji Baby John and Senior Management team of Kings Infra and Head of Departments and Scientists from CIFT attended the Technology Licence Agreement signing ceremony held at CIFT headquarters in Kochi.
The ‘Modified method of chitin production/alternative chemicals for chitin production has a specially designed machine which is used to remove the protein content from the shell before adding chemicals. Hence the improved process requires less chemical use. This in turn improves the chitin and chitosan quality and incur less cost for the process. The effluent quality also improves resulting in less cost for ETP. The protein separated can be used for many products including feed and other bio active molecules.
The technology for Ready-to-eat/serve fishery products in metal cans and retortable Pouches’ can be optimised for achieving very long shelf life under normal room temperature storage without use of any chemical additives or preservatives. The region-specific ethnic products can be optimised for ingredients, processing and heating conditions to achieve desired safety and consumer acceptability by following approved guidelines as per US FDA or any other regulatory agency to produce safe food products with very long shelf life. No special storage temperature is needed and products can be stored at ambient storage conditions.
