Defence Food Research Laboratory develops patented technology for waste management on Gaganyaan

By Ajith M S

MYSURU:  As the country waits for its first manned space mission, Gaganyaan, slated for 2022, and our Gaganauts expected to carry aloo parathas and idlis as their food, scientists have developed an indigenous, or an atmanirbhar solution to tackle food waste issue in the space.

The Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) here has come out with a patented food-waste pouch system for the mission that would restrict the growth of microbes and prevent food from getting spoilt.

Recently, DFRL had announced it has made Indian foods suitable for space travel, and had released a menu of 30 Indian dishes, including idlis, veg pulav, moong dal halwa, dal, aloo parathas and chicken curry. The food will be put into specially designed desiccated packages and can be eaten after filling the packets with water.

But tackling leftovers and food waste was one of the concerns that had no pre-existing solutions since Indian foods are tricky, unlike the commonly used space foods like sandwiches and burgers popular in American and Russian space programmes.

The DFRL has now solved the issue through a food waste pouch technology which has a special compound that would restrict the growth of microbes spoiling the food and also kill the odour.Sources said Indian foods have more moisture than other space foods.  “A burger leftover can be kept for a week, but a chapati can only stay for two days,” they pointed out.