Academic Research

Current Practice and Pain Points

• The traditional method of frying snacks in Kadhayi is a complex process, which produces unique product texture and flavour. This has not been perfectly replicated in automatic fryers with large throughput (2-4 ton/ hr) until now.
• Although there is high customer demand for products via Kadhayi process, manufacturers are forced to produce in Automatic Fryers to meet sales volumes viably, as the traditional process is low throughput, labor intensive, people dependent, and unhygienic / does not meet Food Safety requirements.

The Research Problem

• To understand and model the traditional frying process using thermodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, and other techniques.
• Quantify the temporal and spatial variables describing product transformation, temperature profile, and other relevant process variables across the frying operation
• The model would be able to predict the final product properties (moisture, temperature, etc.) and process variables given Initial Conditions and Process Variables.

Research Methodology

• Study of current subject knowledge and ongoing research, to produce a Review Paper
• Develop a theoretical model to quantify, analyse and predict the product and process variables in 4D (temporal and spatial), and simulate in high fidelity models
• Simulate for common and real-world products
• Write research papers to publish the findings

Current Practice and Pain Points

• Unavailability of low cost rapid test kits to measure microbial load makes it unviable and impossible for consumers to quantitatively determine quality of manufactured beverages
• Consumers fail to identify whether the beverage is safe or unsafe for consumption. As a result they often fall sick, and suffer loss of work and medical costs
• Actual product sampling, in the retail market, is a minuscule of overall sales volumes, and it is impractical, impossible, and unviable to do large scale sampling and testing
• Even if consumer detects poor quality via sensory, no scientific method to prove or escalate

The Research Problem

• Identify target microorganisms for spoilage detection and/ or quantification in fruit-based beverages and drinks
• Identify chemical and biological mechanisms/ reactions in laboratory environment to detect/ quantify the presence/ concentration of the target microorganism
• Develop an easy-to-use, low-cost, and rapid test kit to implement the identified reactions/ mechanisms to detect/quantify the targeted microorganisms, i.e. quality of product

Research Methodology

• Study of current subject knowledge and ongoing research, to produce a Review Paper
• Develop a theoretical model of reactions/ mechanisms with target microorganisms, conduct lab experiments, and statistically validate the hypothesis and measure performance
• Develop prototype for test kit for real-world trials to verify performance
• Write research papers to publish the findings

Current Practice and Pain Points

• Unavailability of low cost rapid test kits to measure microbial load makes it unviable and impossible for consumers to quantitatively determine quality of liquid milk sold in market
• Consumers fail to identify whether the beverage is safe or unsafe for consumption. As a result they often fall sick, and suffer loss of work and medical costs
• Actual product sampling, in the retail market, is a miniscule of overall sales volumes, and it is impractical, impossible, and unviable to do large scale sampling and testing
• Even if consumer detects poor quality via sensory, no scientific method to prove or escalate

The Research Problem

• Identify target microorganisms for spoilage detection and/ or quantification in liquid milk, workable on all variants (full cream, skim milk, low fat, and others)
• Identify chemical and biological mechanisms/ reactions in laboratory environment to detect/ quantify the presence/ concentration of the target microorganism
• Develop an easy-to-use, low-cost, and rapid test kit to implement the identified reactions/ mechanisms to detect/quantify the targeted microorganisms, i.e. quality of product

Research Methodology

• Study of current subject knowledge and ongoing research, to produce a Review Paper
• Develop a theoretical model of reactions/ mechanisms with target microorganisms, conduct lab experiments, and statistically validate the hypothesis and measure performance
• Develop prototype for test kit for real-world trials to verify performance
• Write research papers to publish the findings

Current Practice and Pain Points

• Consumers do not have a low-cost and rapid method to determine whether the milk sold in market is farm-fresh or reconstituted. This allows manufacturers to brand and sell part-or-full reconstituted milk as fresh milk.
• Reconstituted milk is less nutritious than fresh milk, but sold at same price. There exists possibility of partial-use of old or even expired Skim Milk Powder in reconstitution of milk.
• This lack of visibility at consumer-end, disincentivizes and deters manufacturers to produce 100% fresh milk at all, and is an eventual business loss to dairy farmers.

The Research Problem

• Understanding chemistry of biomolecules present in fresh milk viz-a-viz reconstituted milk to conceptualize and design processes to differentiate one from the other
• Test the physical, chemical and/or biological processes in laboratory environment to differentiate fresh milk from reconstituted milk with statistically acceptable accuracy
• Develop an easy-to-use, low-cost, and rapid test kit to implement the identified reactions/ mechanisms to differentiate fresh milk from reconstituted milk

Research Methodology

• Study of current subject knowledge and ongoing research, to produce a Review Paper
• Develop a theoretical model of reactions/ mechanisms, conduct lab experiments, and statistically validate the hypothesis and measure performance
• Develop prototype for test kit for real-world trials to verify performance
• Write research papers to publish the findings