Food engineers at the IIT Kharagpur have developed a cheap ready-to-eat paste for malnourished children.
A four-member team of IIT researchers prepared the formulation in their food chemistry and technology lab which could be used as part of medical nutrition therapy for management of severe acute malnutrition children.
"This is ready to eat and can be sold in pouches as food paste. We have prepared five food formulations based on peanut, potato and Bengal gram (chana) to suit different tastes and nutrient needs of malnourished children. It is also easily digestible," IIT professor Dr H N Mishra, who led the research, told PTI.
"It has all the vitamins, minerals, nutrients and protein which a malnourished child needs," he said.
"Such children need special attention as they lack calories and energy. Their digestion capacity is affected and their whole system has grown weak. Therefore, they need such therapeutic food and diet-care approach," Prof Mishra said.
Two Phd students and an assistant worked with him for more than a year on the project.
Since the product targeted the underprivileged section of the society, the cost of production was low and could be sold by the industry profitably at Rs 50-60 a kg, Mishra said.
