No Govt Nudge, Jackfruit Flour Out Of Nutri Plans

Value-added products can be used to supplement nutritional needs of children

- ANU KURUVILLA @Kochi

In the Kerala budget for 2025-26 presented by Finance Minister K N Balagopal, it was stated that the government would launch initiatives to include the nutritious jackfruit powder in Central nutrition programmes such as Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. However, the very idea which had been mooted in a report submitted by the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) to the Women and Child Development Department, Kerala, four years ago remains in cold storage.

Speaking to TNIE, Dr Komal Chauhan of NIFTEM said, "The report was submitted in 2021 after the department approached the institute to conduct a study on preparing value-added products that can be used to supplement the nutritional needs of children and lactating women."

According to her, replacing soya bean with jackfruit flour would work towards taking away the beany taste of the Nutrimix. "This would also take care of the waste problem created by the discarding of jackfruit seeds," she said.