A centre of excellence in food grain quality, processing and product development, this department has been able to attain this status on the strength of its sustained endevours and successive breakthroughs over the years. It actually opened in 1964 as Cereal and Confectionery Technology Department, and came to be called Rice and Pulse Technology Department and Cereal Science and Technology Department before acquiring its present name as Grain Science and Technology Department.

The department has achieved several breakthroughs such as:

-  Novel process for parboiling paddy to enhance the nutritive value
   of rice

-  Wide-ranging equipment such as mini-mills, versatile mills, hand-
   operated mills and hullers for the grain processing industry.

-  Processes for ready mixes for many popular and traditional foods.

-  Technology for processing coarse grains into valuable foods of mass
   consumption such as semolina and flakes and

-  Rice bran stabilization.

-  The department is one of the important commodity-oriented
   technology units of CFTRI and is engaged in-

-  Basic research on the chemistry and quality of cereals and pulses  
   and their products.

-  Development and application of technologies for conservation,
   value-addition and product diversification for food uses of cereals and
   pulses.

-  Assistance to food industries based on grains (cereals, millets and 
   pulses) and promotion of entrepreneurial activities through innovative
   and improved technologies and technical services.

Technologies Developed/Transferred

-  Modern parboiling process by dry heat and hot soaking methods
-  Curing of freshly harvested paddy
-  Package for detection of adulteration in Basmati rice
-  Quick cooking rice
-  Rice bran stabilization
-  Continuous cereal flaking system for rice, sorghum, maize, wheat 
   and millets
-  Schedule for paddy harvesting and drying
-  Improvements to traditional rice-flaking process (Poha-making)
-  Package for differentiating old and new rice

Coarse Cereals

-  Semolina and flakes
-  Refined millet flour
-  Malting of rice, wheat and sorghum
-  Dry milling of maize
-  Popping of cereals
-  Maize Roti flour mix

Pulses

-  Quick Cooking Dhal
-  Soya preparations

Speciality and Convenience Foods

-  Milled malted cereals useful in making enzyme-rich flour
-  Noodles/vermicelli from maize (corn) and rice
-  High-fibre, low-fat vermicelli noodles from millets/cereals
-  Ready-To-Eat (RTE), fat-free, flaked snack foods from cereals
-  Tamarind powder
-  Coriander Dhal/Supari
-  Canning of Jamoon
-  Infant foods
-  Malted weaning food
-  Enteral foods (For thermally injured/other patients, in
   hyper-catabolic state.)
-  Geriatric biscuits
-  Orange peel curry

Instant Traditional Foods (Ready Mixes)

-  Idli, Vada, Dosa, Rasam, Sambar, spice mixes, Bisi Bele Bhath,
   Puliyogare, Pongal, Urid Bhath, Chakkuli, Muchhore, Jilebi,
   Jamoon,

Machinery
-  Improved single huller
-  Double huller
-  Centrifugal sheller huller
-  Mini rice mill

-  Parboiling plant for paddy
-  Heavy-duty cereal roller flaker
-  Simple Dhal (split pulse) milling systems,
   -  Hand-/ machine-operated pulse dehusking machine
   -  Versatile mini Dhal mill

-  Modern Dhal mill
-  Gota separator
-  Mini grain mill
-  Hand-/leg-operated Papad press
-  Small-scale and pilot-scale dry maize milling system
-  Paddy crack detector
-  Maize degerming and milling (small./large) plant
-  Millet milling plant

Machinery, Processes & Products in the Pipeline

-  System for automation of grain-flaking
-  Integrated rubber roll sheller huller
-  Speciality food formulation for patients and elderly people
-  Low-cost nutrition-supplementing food
-  Pulse-based soup mixes
-  Ragi malt-based beverage
-  Millet malt-based confectionery

The department undertake regular and need-based training programmes for students, members of voluntary organisations and personnel from the industry, in the areas of processing, product formulation and quality of food grains.

The department is associated with M.Sc., M.Phil., and Ph.D. courses of various agricultural as well as general universities. Under the supervision of our scientific staff, a large number of UNU/UNICEF fellows from developing countries have received training in grain processing and product formulation. So far we have produced 26 Ph.D. in different specialised areas.

-  Contract research projects for development of new grain-based
   processes, products and cereal and pulse processing machinery.

-  Basic research into the chemistry, structure and quality of food
   grains and grain-based traditional and speciality products.

-  Process demonstration and engineering consultancy and counselling.

-  Analysis and quality control guidance

-  Societal missions and surveys

-  An international standard laboratory with sophisticated equipment to
   facilitate research work on basic sciences, with special reference to
   carbohydrates, grain structure, physico-chemical properties and
   biochemical constituents.

-  Laboratory scale test milling and quality evaluation facilities for
   grain-based conventional and speciality products.

Well-equipped pilot scale facilities for primary and secondary processing of cereals and pulses by parboiling, milling, flaking and malting, apart from a unit for fabrication of cereal processing machinery.

Head                                                                                              Grain Science & Technology,                                                      Central Food Technical Research Institute,
Mysore - 570 013
Ph: + 91 - 821 - 2510843
Fax: + 91 - 821 - 2517233

E-mail: gst @ cftri . res . in
                                         
                                                                                               Top