Food engineering

IIT Kharagpur Students Startup InfinityBox Awarded Hult Prize Seed Funding

IIT Kharagpur Students Startup InfinityBox Awarded Hult Prize Seed Funding

InfinityBox, an IIT Kharagpur students startup, has received the seed capital award of $100K by the Hult Prize Foundation. It is the only Indian company that is the recipient of the seed capital award of USD 100,000 by the Hult Prize Foundation and alumni of Nexus Incubator by the US Embassy and Singapore Government-funded Young Social Entrepreneurs 2020. InfinityBox is working towards reducing the use of less single-use plastics in the food delivery industry. The startup has partnered with two of India’s most prominent food delivery companies, Swiggy in the B2C domain, and HungerBox in the B2B domain, to support them…
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IIT Kharagpur’s Essential Oil Extractor to Economize Betel Leaf Oil Production in India

IIT Kharagpur’s Essential Oil Extractor to Economize Betel Leaf Oil Production in India

Antimicrobial and antioxidant rich betel leaf essential oil finds wide use in industrial applications including medicines, cosmetics and chewable mouth fresher The essential oil extractor reduces betel leaf wastage making essential oil production economically viable The process increases yield by 16%, reduces process time by 44% and energy input by 30%   There have been many tales of Paan - in songs, history and literature, religion and culture for many millennia, across hierarchies of society, in South and South-East Asia. While the use of Paan as a mouth freshener is under the radar of health agencies for carcinogenic effects, however,…
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Ozone and Ultra-filter based manufacturing tech to extend shelf life of packaged Sugarcane juice

Ozone and Ultra-filter based manufacturing tech to extend shelf life of packaged Sugarcane juice

Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed new process technology based on ozonization and ultra filtration for manufacturing shelf-stable sugarcane juice Sugarcane juice is a refreshing drink with an enriched nutritional profile. The juice accommodates health components such as, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and vitamins (like Vitamins C&B) which offer quick relief from heatstroke, dehydration, constipation, jaundice, etc. by supplying instant energy. Owing to the absence of simple sugars and low glycemic index (30-40), its average intake by diabetic persons is also acceptable. However, the colour and flavour unique to the juice get deteriorated immediately after its extraction due to biological processes of…
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Agri-food startups to play a key role in developing self-reliant India: Shiksha Mantri

Agri-food startups to play a key role in developing self-reliant India: Shiksha Mantri

Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ flagged off the Agri-Food Techathon at IIT Kharagpur and also laid the foundation for Agri-Business Incubation Centre, which will incubate innovative ideas in the agriculture and food technology domain for creating Agri-preneures. Addressing the first Agri-Food Techathon organized by NABARD and IIT Kharagpur, Union Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said that the country's agricultural sector, including our farmers, our villages, are the pillars of self-reliant India. "If they remain strong then the foundation of self-reliant India will be strong and I believe that the role of agri-food startups will be very important in developing a…
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IIT Kharagpur to Incubate Agri-Food Startups to support Food Security

IIT Kharagpur to Incubate Agri-Food Startups to support Food Security

Shiksha Mantri to Flag-off Agri-Food Techathon at IIT Kharagpur to promote Agri and Food Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship IIT Kharagpur in association with NABARD is organizing the first of its kind Agri-Food Techathon (AFT 2021), to promote the participation of India’s youth in innovation and entrepreneurship in different domains of the Agri-Food sector. AFT-2021 will be inaugurated by Hon’ble Shiksha Mantri Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on January 25, 2021. The foundation of the Agri-Business Incubation Centre will also be laid at the inaugural event, which will carry out the mandate to incubate innovative ideas in agriculture and food technology domain…
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Cucumber Peels for Ecofriendly Food Packaging

Cucumber Peels for Ecofriendly Food Packaging

Are you throwing away the cucumber peels after preparing your salad? You may soon have them back in your kitchen as the eco-friendly packaging material for food items. IIT Kharagpur researchers have developed cellulose nanocrystals from cucumber peels with high cellulose content, compared to other peel wastes, which can be used to create food packaging materials. While single-use plastic is consciously being avoided by consumers, they still remain largely in circulation as food packaging items. Natural biopolymers are unable to make way in this industry as they lack strength, elongation, barrier property, optical property, and in some cases even biological…
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Reaching Out to Rural Community

Reaching Out to Rural Community

IIT Kharagpur Reaches out to Village Youth at the Agri Food Expo 2020 for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in Rural Technologies with contributions from Guru Sanjeev Kumar The Dept. of Agriculture & Food Engineering organized the Agri Food Expo 2020 during February 14-16, 2020, under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan programme of the Government of India. A Workshop on Technologies for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was conducted wherein 300 participants from West Bengal and neighbouring states were trained. The workshop was primarily targeted towards unemployed rural youth who at least have a college degree and a zeal to undertake livelihood projects.…
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