Department of Food Science and Technology Neri,Hamirpur (HP)

Dr Abhishek Thakur
Assistant Professor & Incharge

Department of Food Science and Technology (FST) is located within the College of Horticulture and Forestry, the Department of Food Science and Technology (FST) offers undergraduate and graduate programs of study with well educated and trained faculty. Two years M. Sc. is formulated for developing competent Post-Harvest Management (PHM) professionals for whom significant job opportunities exist in this country. Post harvest management program is mainly obliges students to read original publications and envisages significant inputs in laboratory work, communication skill, creativity, planning, execution and critical evaluation of the studies undertaken.

Post harvest management programme gives common basic knowledge (reduction of losses in handling, packaging, transportation and storage with modern infrastructure machinery of different food products, processing into a wide variety of products, home scale preservation with low cost technology) during this course. Post-Harvest Management (PHM) has potential to create rural industries, employment generation and start-up opportunity to the youth. The farmer whose role has been reduced to producer can be transformed into producer cum processor and thus getting more dividends for hard labour, input, kind of risk taken and generating resource for socio-economic advancement keeping pace with the modern times. Presently the department is offering specialization in post harvest management of horticultural produce, processing and value addition of fruits and vegetables.

Mandate

To develop the human resources in post harvest management for processing and value addition of horticultural, agricultural and forest crops.
To study and standardize the technology for the value addition of different food products
To disseminate the standardized technology among the stakeholders with different trainings programme.

Strengths

Processing laboratory equipped with different processing instruments for the standardization of different value added food products.
Quality control laboratory facilities for analysis of different food samples
FSSAI Registered Processing unit for pilot scale testing of technologies and commercially value addition of different food products.

Academics

The Department offers two degree programmes

B.Tech Food technology

M.Sc. Post-Harvest Management

Academics Achievements

The students of the department have brought laurels over the past years. One student of the Department Ayush sood qualified SRF exam and score 3^rd rank in 2022 ICAR exam.
Many students of the department have cleared state department of Horticulture examination over the past three years and serving as HDO and HEO in different parts of the state.
Many students are serving in the national and private banks as agriculture officers (AO).
The department boasts of more than 20 alumni who are serving in various capacities in national and international research institutes, Central and State universities, Food industries, banks, public and private agencies etc. at mid and senior level executive positions.

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Prepared different value added food products under the course ELH-413

Research

Thrust Areas

To work on Post-harvest management and value addition of subtropical fruits and vegetables of Himachal Pradesh.
To study and standardization of technology on Waste utilization of food sources.
Low calorie, health food, nutraceuticals and functional food products from different subtropical fruits and vegetables of Himachal Pradesh.
Standardization of technology for the Value addition of underutilized fruits and vegetables of subtropical area of Himachal Pradesh

Research Achievements

Guava powder peeled without seeds of two cultivars of guava Lalit and Shweta can successfully be used for preparation of foam mat dried guava powder using GMS @ 2 per cent as foaming agents by using foam mat drying technique.
Guava slices with peel having thickness 6 mm and pretreated with 0.2% KMS and 0.5% CaCl2 of guava cultivars Lalit and Shweta can successfully be used for preparation of osmo- dehydrated guava slices.
The local fermented food such as milk, lassi, dahi and better/ dough of jalebi, bhature, babroo, bari and seera are a good sources of lactic acid bacteria with probiotic attributes.
Papaya leaf juice can be utilized for preparation of papaya juice based mango nectar by extraction of juice after heating the crushed papaya leaf mass along with 20% water and blending of mango pulp and papaya leaf juice in 70:30 proportion.
Aonla fruits can be utilized for extraction of juice through enzymatic juice extraction for better yield in both NA-7 and Desi (seedling) aonla and juice can be utilized for preparation of aonlajuice based RTS
Mango pulp of all the cultivars Amrapali, Dashehari and Mallika including seedling mango can successfully be used for preparation of foam mat dried mango powder using 2% CMC for foaming and drying the foam in mechanical dehydrator
Ash gourd juice having good nutritional and medicinal properties can successfully be utilized for the preparation of juice, sweetened beverage and squash. KMS @350ppm at ambient temperature was found optimum for the preservation and storage of the ash gourd beverages. The product can successfully be stored up to 90 days interval at ambient temperature (20-25°C) without any microbial growth.

The aonla candies prepared by using honey and apple juice concentrate by osmotic dehydration technique and packed aluminium laminated pouches was the most appropriate in physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory evaluation.
The RTS beverages developed from leftover of aonla candies drained solution after osmosis and using 12 per cent aonla juice at 15°B TSS and 0.3 % acid was found the most appropriate on the basis of sensory parameters.
Anola Powder prepared using foaming agent CMC @ 3% and stored in aluminium pouches was the most appropriate in physicochemical, microbiological, and sensory parameters.
Ready to serve (RTS) beverages from foam mat dried aonla powder 10 percent fruit powder and 12 °B TSS was found more acceptable based on sensory and nutritional parameters.
The mango kernels pretreated with 2 minutes blanching were used to prepared products viz. pickle, chutney and sauce. The prepared products safely preserved up to a period of 90 days under ambient conditions with non-significant changes in chemical, sensory and microbial attributes.
Optimized drying pre-treatments of the mushrooms and reported that 2 per cent citric acid concentration effective in terms of retention much more crude fibers, ash content, energy value, vitamin C phenols as compared to other methods.
Developed instant soup of mushrooms powder and reported 20% mushroom powder successfully supplemented with other ingredients in soup powder and stored successfully for 120 days at ambient conditions.
Optimized the methodology for cookies preparation with mushrooms and resulted found 10% mushroom powder + 90% wheat flour in cookies best scored and stored successfully for period 90 days at ambient condition.
Developed corn cob juice and mango pulp blended crush and found that 80:20 ratio of blending by using KMS@ 175ppm + Sodium benzoate @300 ppm was the most appropriate on the 9 –point Hedonic scale and showed good storage stability up to 90 days of storage under ambient temperature.
Prepared corn cob preserves with slow method (steeping cob for 7 days 70°Brix TSS sol.) and stored for 90 days at various storage condition viz; Ambient, Low and High temperature and reported that the sensory and chemical attributes at low temperature were highest.
Prepared harard pickle prepared from local & Kothi cultivar recorded that recipe R2 using spices and acetic acid and recipe R3 using spices and lime juice adjudged best on 9 –point Hedonic scale and successfully stored up to a period of 120 days under ambient conditions.
Developed fruit crush from local and Kothi cultivar and optimized that fruit pulp and TSS in ratio 25:55 and 25:60 were adjudged best on 9 –point Hedonic scale. It could be stored safely with the combination of KMS and sodium benzoate for period of 120 days under ambient conditions.

Standardized technology for the development of osmo-dried low calorie candies

Practical demonstration to farmers on pulping of mango fruit

Extension

To provide technical trainings, consultancy and incubational facilities to the budding entrepreneurs and food processing stakeholders. Connect with the maximum possible stakeholders through extensional and similar activities to make them knowledgeable about the developed technologies

Three World Food Day has been organized for National food security issues at Chopal, Karsog and Gorli Marawag in which more than 600 farmers participated.
Organized six Three Days Trainings Programme Under the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan Scheme of GOI on Income Generation and Entrepreneur Through Food Processing” sponsored by ICAR
Organized two Seven Days Basic Skill Development Training on Food Processing and value addition” sponsored by Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam (HPKVN)
The scientists have demonstrated more than 25 demonstrations on different value added prepared from fruits and vegetables.

Achievements

Three World Food Day has been organized for National food security issues at Chopal, Karsog and Gorli Marawag in which more than 600 farmers participated.
Organized six Three Days Trainings Programme Under the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan Scheme of GOI on Income Generation and Entrepreneur Through Food Processing” sponsored by ICAR
Organized two Seven Days Basic Skill Development Training on Food Processing and value addition” sponsored by Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam (HPKVN)
The scientists have demonstrated more than 25 demonstrations on different value added prepared from fruits and vegetables.

World food day celebration with farmers and students at Neri Campus

Facilities

Research laboratories - 02
Quality control lab- This lab is well equipped with different instruments and having standards chemicals for the characterization and analysis of different fruits and vegetables based food products.
Fruit and Vegetable processing unit
PG Class room