Pilot Plant for Probiotic Fruit Juices Established

All India Coordinated Research project on Post-harvest Engineering and Technology (AICRP on PHET), PAU, Ludhiana centre established for a pilot plant (50L capacity) production of probiotic fruit juices from kinnow, mango and guava.

Probiotic foods are a group of health promoting functional foods with  health benefits based on the presence of selected viable strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which when taken in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. The probiotic guava, kinnow and mango juices were successfully formulated with stable and viable beneficial lactic acid bacteria content in the recommended dose (106 cfu/ml) with a shelf-life of one month.

The various components of the pilot plant are Juicer for kinnow (automatic electric screw type); Pulverizer for pulp extraction of mango and guava; Stainless steel bin (Food grade) for juice/pulp collection; Batch pasteurizer; Autoclave (SS 304, vertical) for sterilization of glassware, culture media etc. for probiotic culture preparation; Cold centrifuge for harvesting of probiotic cells; Horizontal Laminar Airflow (Size 3’x2’x2’) for providing an aseptic chamber for housing the bottling unit and for addition of probiotic culture; BOD Incubator for incubation of probiotic cultures; Pneumatic bottling unit and Refrigerator for storage of probiotic juice.

A Patent on ‘Production of probiotic fruit juices’ was filed on March 4, 2013, whose abstract was published on 26/6/15 and request for examination was given on 18/1/16. It is a suitable option for small entrepreneurs/fruit growers for value addition in their fruits.

(Source: AICRP on PHET)