Karnal institute scientists increase shelf life of sugarcane juice

Tribune News Service

Parveen Arora

Karnal, May 22

In a major breakthrough, Sugarcane Breeding Institute Regional Centre, Karnal, have claimed to develop a process which will increase the shelf life of sugarcane juice up to 90-day at 4 degree celsius i.e. the temperature of conventional refrigerators. Head of the institute, Dr SK Pandey, confirmed the development of the technology.

The institute said its scientists have standardised the technique that allows storage of the juice in bottle, ensuring availability in off-season.

Pandey said, “A team led by Dr Pooja Dhansu, Senior Scientist of Plant Physiology, have devloped the technique. They have started work on the packaging of juice. Soon, the juice will be available at the sale counter of the institute even during off season.”

Experts said sugarcane juice gets fermented quickly as its colour changes from green to brown, making it not fit for consumption. But the technique developed the institutes scientists would not only extended the shelf-life but also maintain the taste, aroma and colour, they claimed.

Pandey believes that the process may lead to a revolution in the small-scale juice industries as they would be able to ensure the availability of high-quality cane juice in areas where the crop is not produced.

Dr Dhansu said with the help of this technology, the juice can be preserved by maintaining minimum changes in physico-chemical properties (pH, TSS%, titrable acidity, reducing sugar, total sugar), and sensory qualities (colour, appearance, flavour and overall acceptability) that too with restricted microbial growth.

She said that they had worked on two processes. “The first is streaming, which enhanced the cane juice shelf life up to 30 days at 4°C without addition of any kind of preservative and blended flavor. In the second process, 100 parts per million potassium metabisulphite was added to enhance the shelf life up to 90 days at 4°C,” she said

The Technique

The first is streaming, which enhanced the cane juice shelf life up to 30 days at 4°C without addition of any kind of preservative and blended flavour. In the second process, 100 ppm potassium metabisulphite was added to enhance the shelf life up to 90 days at 4°C. — Dr Pooja Dhansu, senior scientist, plant physiology

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