PAU Partners with Odisha Entrepreneur to Expand Sugarcane Juice Bottling Technology
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) signed an MoA with Ajit Kumar Behera of Ash Udyog to promote sugarcane juice bottling technology, addressing challenges of perishability and market reach. Developed by PAU’s Department of Food Science and Technology, this thermal processing method extends shelf life, enabling national and international sales. PAU has signed 24 MoAs, enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities in food processing.
Punjab: Since perishability of food products posed challenges in terms of reaching out to distant markets and remunerative price realization for the food related entrepreneurs, sugarcane juice bottling technology, developed by Department of Food Science and Technology, was a potent solution to the above-mentioned challenge. Keeping this in mind, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) inked a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Mr Ajit Kumar Behera, an entrepreneur running a brand ‘Ash Udyog’ at Dangapal, Odisha. Dr AS Dhatt, Director of Research, PAU, signed the MoA with Mr Behera.
Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor, PAU; and Dr Dhatt acknowledged the concerted efforts of Dr Poonam A Sachdev, Principal Food Technologist, for sharing this technology with the farmers and industrial stakeholders throughout India.
Dr Sachdev informed that the sugarcane juice was thermally processed to kill microorganisms and increase shelf life. This processing offered a completely healthy and hygienic product in comparison to the roadside vendors, she observed. Increased shelf life of bottled sugarcane opened up avenues for selling the product in the national and international markets, she said.
Dr Khushdeep Dharni, Associate Director, Technology Marketing and Intellectual Property Rights (TM&IPR) Cell of PAU, informed that sugarcane juice bottling technology was gaining popularity among entrepreneurs and till date, PAU had signed 24 MoAs for disseminating this technology at the grassroot level. He stated that TM&IPR Cell endeavoured to establish strong linkages with the relevant stakeholders in the domain of agriculture, food processing and other allied domains, to share knowledge generated in the University.
Dr GS Mangat, Additional Director of Research (Agriculture); Dr GS Manes, Additional Director of Research (Agri- Engineering); and Dr Savita Sharma, Head, Department of Food Science and Technology, were also present on the occasion.
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