Indian Food Research Articles

Leveraging Ai and ChatGPT for Food Marketing: A Bikanervala Case Study

Bikanervala is a well-known Indian restaurant chain known for its wide selection of delicious sweets, snacks and traditional North-Indian dishes. This case study examines how Bikanervala, a well-known Indian food brand, used AI and ChatGPT to improve their food marketing strategy. Bikanervala intend to use cutting-edge technology to attract customers, streamline marketing efforts and to provide a personalized dining experience. Bikanervala continues to leverage AI and ChatGPT, as the possibilities for culinary discovery are endless. AI is capable of suggesting fusion dishes that combine traditional Indian flavours with world cuisines. Imagine menus evolving in real time based on customer feedback, refining and perfecting new creations with each iteration. The integration of AI will not compromise the trust Bikanervala has cherished for generations. Rather, it reinforces the brand's commitment to providing a memorable dining experience. By seamlessly blending tradition and innovation, Bikanervala is rewriting strategy in the culinary industry and setting new standards in personalization, efficiency and creativity. In a world where technology is transforming every aspect of our lives, Bikanervala is a role model for how AI can be used to improve the artistry of cooking. As we step into this new era of gastronomy, Bikanervala and its AI-powered revolution are leading the way, inspiring our taste buds like never before.

Inland Fisheries: Challenging Issues & Management Strategies in Indian Context

Inland capture and culture fisheries is an important sector of Indian agriculture, providing employment, food and nutritional security, particularly to the rural poor and better access to protein-rich food for all. The country has shown continuous and sustained increments in fish production, since independence. The inland fisheries are composed of mainly three components i.e. fisheries resources, fish & fishers. The sector has vast production potential, particularly for inland aquaculture and culture-based fisheries resources. But nowadays, the sector is facing various challenging issues like environmental pressures, overexploitation, inadequate database & catch information, unequal gender participation, lack of sufficient infrastructure and inadequate governance systems. In order to overcome these issues, a holistic approach is required to manage the inland fisheries by involving its major components which are fisheries resources, fish & fishers. This is the need of the hour to take action in a collaborative manner by government, scientists, fishery managers, fishers and multiple resource users for sustainable management of inland fisheries resources by encompassing the concept of Ecosystem-based fisheries management. We all need to be responsible for our duties towards the conservation and management of aquatic resources, not only for conserving the wealth of inland fisheries for the present but for future generations also.

Determination of heavy metals in vended Indian street foods: Application of advanced multivariate analysis

The consumption of street foods is a popular and convenient option in India. However, street foods are often prepared in unhygienic conditions and are susceptible to contamination by heavy metals (HMs), which can be harmful to human health. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the levels of HMs in Indian street foods and assess the associated health risks. Additionally, we employed multivariate statistical tools to categorize the samples based on their contamination levels. The results revealed high levels of HMs in street foods, except for arsenic (As), which was found to be below the limit of detection (≤10 µg/kg). The estimated daily intake (mg/kg/day) of HMs in street-vended food items ranged from 0.0052 to 0.4244. The target hazard quotient and hazard index values of the analyzed metals in the street-vended food items were all found to be < 1, indicating no significant health threat to consumers. In conclusion, regular monitoring of heavy metal concentrations in street-vended food items is necessary to identify potential health risks and ensure that consumers are not exposed to any carcinogenic hazards.

The Necessity of Sustainable Food Security in India – an Analysis

Food security means different to different people. It is context specific. One aspect is the yield per acre and availability of food grains. On the other aspect, it deals with policy interventions and their impact on social systems, particularly in India's context of 182.2 million people being undernourished. Food security means not only making the availability of food grains to the growing population but also its sustainability in terms of accessibility and acceptability of food grains. The inevitable policy interventions in India have shifted the production interests from traditional crops to commercial crops and increased the need for the intervention of private companies in production and marketing. The crops produced now are more export-based and urban-based, with less calorific value and high cosmetic standards. With a fragmented supply chain and increasing private monopoly over food production, the stability and sustainability of Indian food systems in feeding the 1.39 billion population are questionable. This study analyses how the policy interventions since independence have changed food production systems and their impact on sustaining food security.

Effect of Sand Roasting on Physicochemical, Thermal, Functional, Antinutritional, and Sensory Properties of Sattu, a Nourishing form of Chickpea

Sattu is a traditional Indian food product made of chickpea with tremendous nutritional benefits. However, the processing of sattu has not been thoroughly explored which is an impediment to industrial applications involving the development of sattu-based products. These products carry immense benefits for consumers and for widespread popularity; it is essential that the roasting of sattu for further processing be investigated for improving the properties of sattu while reducing its antinutritional factors. In this study, the impact of sand roasting on the physicochemical, sensory, antinutritional, thermal, functional, and antioxidant properties on sattu was investigated. Chickpea grains were roasted in sand for different time periods (3–17 min) and temperature combinations (171–228°C). Results revealed that samples treated at 180°C for 15 min had maximum sensory score (3.99) followed by the samples treated at 200°C for 10 min and at 228°C for 10 min. Overall sattu roasted at 180°C for 15 min was found suitable for further application.

Evaluation and ranking of solutions to overcome the barriers of Industry 4.0 enabled sustainable food supply chain adoption

The food industry plays a significant role in the economy and GDP despite having many obstacles like food safety, food security, demand, and supply gaps. In contrast, the food supply chain has numerous challenges, like food traceability, transportation, and packaging. Industry 4.0 can significantly overcome these challenges in sustainable food supply chain using technologies like IoT, Block chain, cyber security, etc. In India, most food industries are failed to implement Industry 4.0 due to various barriers. This study aims to discover these critical barriers to enable sustainable food supply chain to adopt Industry 4.0 and provide adequate solutions. Using the Pythagorean fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (PF-AHP) and Pythagorean fuzzy-evaluation based on distance from average solution (PF-EDAS) methodologies, we have provided a hybrid framework for the study to prioritize the solutions to overcome the barriers of Industry 4.0 enabled sustainable food supply chain. The relative weights of each barrier are determined using the PF-AHP technique, and the solution to these barriers is prioritized using the PF-EDAS method. The case study of Indian food industry is considered to demonstrate the applicability of proposed framework. The finding of this research reveals that barriers based on ‘organizational’, ‘strategic’, and ‘social’ aspects has encumbers the adoption of Industry 4.0 enabled food supply chain and its negative influence is about more than 50 % on efficient implementation of Industry 4.0 enabled food supply chain. The top management's poor perception of digitization and lack of willingness to adopt Industry 4.0 enabled sustainable food supply chain are the most critical barriers, whereas top management commitment and support is the most vital solution followed by the government to provide the financial subsidies and taxation relief. This study will aid the company and industrial practitioners in developing strategies for efficiently implementing Industry 4.0 in food supply chain for attaining the sustainability. This study outcomes acts as stepping stone and helps to excel the various missions of government of India in regards to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Clean Digital India.

Relationship Between FDI and Exports in the Indian Food and Beverage Sector : An Empirical Study

Relationship Between FDI and Exports in the Indian Food and Beverage Sector : An Empirical Study

India as Growth Pole in South Asia

This paper aims at assessing the spill over effects of Indian economic growth on its regional neighbours, the short run and long run co-movements of Indian GDP, food inflation and overall inflation against the corresponding macroeconomic fundamentals of its regional trading partners are explored. The short- and long-run association between the models variables is investigated by employing modern time-series econometric estimators including Impulse Response Functions (IRFs) and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to Cointegration. The results reveal that during short run, South Asian (SA) macroeconomic variables respond significantly towards Indian variables in the event of Indian economy receiving positive exogenous shocks. There is relatively weak evidence in favor of Indian growth spill overs when we test the hypothesis country-by-country, through ARDL model. This lack of support is more visible when SA exports are regressed on Indian GDP. However, for two cases of inflation, one obtains reasonable amount of support. On contrary, the long-run association amongst SA exports and Indian GDP established through two Panel cointegration tests, there is strong support in favor of proposed hypothesis, emphasizing the fact that Indian economic growth bears strong spill over effects in short- as well as in long-run towards its regional trading partners.

A healthy nutrition suggestion model for indian women sports players &amp; active youth using long short‐term memory

AbstractSports nutrition is the balanced diet or diet chart that helps to improve performance of sports persons. It is globally accepted that Indian foods are rich in nutrition. It is greatly preferred by yogis, gurus and dieticians to intake Indian foods in order to maintain a wellness and healthy lifestyle. Smart watches, wearable devices, mobile applications and digital portals are available to suggest foods to the sports persons. But software application based on Indian foods specifically for women athletes are not exists so far. In this paper an intelligent food recommendation system based on Long Short‐Term Memory (LSTM) and LSTM with GRU is proposed to suggest meals for women athletes. LSTM has connections and it processes the entire sequence of data thus, it is week suitable for suggestion models. The performance of the model is validated using evaluation metrices and the result demonstrate its effectiveness.

Toward a Better Understanding of Medieval Temple Food Practices: The View from Srirangam

Abstract Vaishnava food offerings provide abundant evidence for material studies on both historical and modern-day ritual practice. The medieval Chola (9th–13th centuries) record of donative inscriptions offers us a wealth of details on the food cooked as naivedya or holy food offerings for temple deities. I present a range of ideas on material temple food and related food practices as gleaned from Tamil epigraphy and other Sanskrit sources, especially utilising evidence from the Srirangam temple dedicated to the reclining Vishnu, a main site of Vaishnava devotion. This article is a scholarly intervention on some key phenomena often misunderstood when considering South Indian food: controversies surrounding eating naivedya and food offerings, historical developments leading to the practice of eating temple prasad, the true ‘sambhar’ offered in Hindu temples, who cooked temple food, and where this happened. All aspects shed light on our understanding of Hindu religious practices involving food.

VTnet+Handcrafted based approach for food cuisines classification

In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid transformer architecture for food cuisine detection and classification. The work carried out within this paper develops a combination of Vision Transformer ensemble architecture with hand-crafted features, thereby making a hybrid Vision Transformer food recognition system. Recently, Vision transformers have been introduced as an alternative means of classification to convolutional neural networks. It performs pattern detection and classification without convolutions and interprets an image as a sequence of patches. The combination of Vision Transformer and hand-crafted features like GIST, HoG (Histogram of Oriented Gradients), and LBP (Local Binary Pattern) were employed on the dataset. The dataset was specifically created (for this work) from the public logging system. It consisted of 13 food categories with 400 images of Indian food items like Ghevar, Idli, Dosa, and much more. It helped to capture a variety of images from every domain and culture. This work made use of the common and readily available food items, which can further be increased by adding on the specialties (dishes) from different regions. Various experiments were performed on CNN with various classifiers like Random forest, and SVM. Further, we compared our proposed approach with several ensembles of CNN architectures. The experiments proved that our proposed approach outperformed the state-of-the-art ensemble CNN architectures for detecting food cuisines. The proposed hybrid approach achieved an accuracy of 94.63%, sensitivity 84.42%, specificity 95.23%, and kappa coefficient 0.93, which was the best amongst all approaches.

IMPORTANCE OF AHARA IN AYURVEDA &amp; EFFECT OF FOOD HABITS ON CHILDREN

In the modern era due to the adaptation of western lifestyle and food habits, Indian children are prone to many diseases, stubborn to response by conventional medicines. Commonly consumed food in the modern era arerefined flour-based food items like pizza, burgers, carbonated drinks, Indian fried food, and ready-to-cook food having a high content of sugar, fat, and salt along with preservatives and artificial flavoring agents, low nutritive value and low fiber. Frequent or daily consumption of these food items causes constipation, indigestion initially followed by IBS, nutrient deficiency, and lifestyle disorders like obesity after long-term use. To cope with these problems ayurveda recommended certain measures like daily regimen, seasonal regimen for food as per Agni and lifestyle to maintain good health as well as food modification for good digestion.

Effects of Formulation on the Rheology and Final Product Attributes of the Traditional West Indian Food “Dhokla”

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of three different formulations of Dhokla, viz. rice-to-Bengal gram (BG) ratios of 1:3, 1:1, and 3:1, on the batter rheological properties, fermentation kinetics, and final product characteristics. Herschel–Bulkley model best explained the flow index and consistency value of the samples with R 2 > 90%. Consistency index and yield strength of the batter had a direct relationship with the BG amount in the formulation, while an inverse relationship was noted between BG amount and flow behavior index (n). Furthermore, the formulation also had a significant impact on the expansion ratio of batter after fermentation and final product characteristics as well as on the texture of the final product. More porous crumbs with higher number of homogenously distributed cells were obtained for R:BG (1:3) compared to other conditions.

Nutritional and Sensory Attributes of Brown Teff and Buckwheat Flour Usage in Indian Foods

Certain foods like wheat would cause an allergic reaction in Celiac disease patients because of the protein, gluten that is present in wheat. This can cause damage in the cell lining of the small intestine in such individuals. The requirement for gluten-free grains is more due to the increasing incidences of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity problems. Teff, a minor crop (Eragrostis teff – Brown teff) unlike other cereals has received very less recognition in the food industry due to its recent emergence as a food crop. Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum – common buckwheat) is a pseudocereal and an evergreen crop that is available throughout the year. These grains are gluten free and serve as an essential advantage for celiac disease patients as these grains would contribute to the major portion of their diet. Teff and buckwheat require less water for cultivation and therefore are the best suited for cultivation in South India and many other parts of the country where there is water scarcity during any time of the year. Due to these advantages of Teff and Buckwheat, there is an increased need to utilize these grains to enjoy their health benefits especially by those who are gluten sensitive. The study conducted is an experimental study with 3 phases. The purpose of the study was to prepare an adai (a type of dosa or a South Indian crepe) ready mix for celiac disease patients which would be time efficient and also provide them with adequate nutrients. Specific nutrient, chemical, microbial and sensory analysis was performed for the two combinations of adai mix using standard protocols and the results are discussed. With reference to the t-test result, the sample with a higher proportion of teff and a lesser proportion of buckwheat (60:40) was the most preferred. The preference of this product had also increased with the days of storage. Keywords : Buckwheat, Celiac disease, Gluten free, Gluten sensitivity, Teff

Preparation and storage stability of amla (Phyllanthus emblica) based instant pulihora mix - a South Indian traditional food condiment

Amla (Phyllanthus emblica Linn) is an important crop, indigenous to Indian subcontinent, which is used in alternative medicine, health foods and herbal products. An attempt was made to add value to the highly perishable and seasonable raw material and produce a convenient, shelf stable instant mix for south Indian cuisines. The standardized instant amla pulihora mix (APM) consisted of amla powder (AP, 26%), roasted ground nuts, bengal gram, black gram, green chili, salt (18%) and spices. The titrable acidity of amla powder and amla pulihora mix was 15.1 and 6.4%, respectively. Amla pulihora mix was a rich source of Ca (191.18 mg/100 g), Fe (21.19 mg/100 g) and a considerable amount of proteins (11.2%). The total polyphenol content in amla powder and the amla pulihora mix was found to be 9989 and 3093 mg/100 g, respectively. HPLC analysis revealed that tannic acid and ascorbic acid contents of amla powder were 8102.1, 1601.21 mg/100 g, respectively, and ascorbic acid in amla pulihora mix was found to be 440.21 mg/100 g. Retention of ascorbic acid was higher in the amla pulihora mix (84%), when compared to amla powder (22%), over a storage period of six months. The antioxidant activity (IC50) of amla powder and the amla pulihora mix, as assayed by DPPH and ABTS, were 0.7 and 0.2 mg/ml and 0.28 and 0.17 mg/ml, respectively. Sensory evaluation of the amla pulihora mix indicated that the product was highly acceptable, when mixed with cooked rice in the ratio of 1: 6.9 w/w. The shelf-life of the product was 6 months with a sensory acceptability score of 8. The equilibrium moisture content- relative humidity studies indicated that both the amla powder and amla pulihora mix were non-hygroscopic and stable at room temperature (28±2 °C) up to 6 months when packed in metalized polyester polyethylene pouches. Microbiological analysis indicated both products as safe for consumption up to 6 months storage.

Toxicity assessment of Tetrodotoxin of commercially exploited smooth blassop Lagocephalus inermis in south-eastern Arabian Sea

The toxicity assessment of Lagocephalus inermis, commonly known as smooth blassop, which is commercially exploited in the south-eastern Arabian Sea, was conducted in this study, marking the first of its kind for the region. The experiment involved testing control and standard samples during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Gross anatomical features were observed, followed by histopathological examination of hearts, livers, and kidneys of deceased mice to determine toxicity. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to analyze standard tetrodotoxin (TTX) concentrations, which showed characteristic peaks at retention times of 4.83 min (mins), 4.792 min, 4.748 min, and 4.729 min for concentrations of 0.1 mg/ml, 0.08 mg/ml, 0.06 mg/ml, and 0.04 mg/ml, respectively. However, the test samples consisting of liver, ovary, and muscle extracts did not exhibit any characteristic peak indicating the presence of TTX in both seasons. Furthermore, bioassays conducted on the test samples did not show any toxicity symptoms, while standard test mice exhibited characteristic symptoms of TTX poisoning. Histopathological examinations revealed congestion, necrosis, degeneration, and hemorrhages in the liver, heart, and kidney tissues of the standard sample, but no changes were observed in the test sample. Based on the findings, it was concluded that Lagocephalus inermis, as exploited along the Karnataka coast, is not toxic at present. However, considering that the bacteria responsible for the species’ toxicity may not be sufficiently present to cause toxicity at the current time, it is imperative for Indian food sanitation authorities to continuously monitor and assess the toxicity of pufferfish consumed in terms of food safety.

Health risk associated with exposure to particulate matter and volatile organic compounds among two-wheeler delivery personnel in Ghaziabad, India

The growth in India's food delivery sector is tremendous, with the increasing potential to deliver food to the doorsteps. This increases the number of food delivery persons on the road. Commuters on Delhi – National Capital Region streets are highly exposed to traffic-related air pollution. This study assessed the exposure of delivery persons in Ghaziabad to Particulate matter (PM) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), followed by a probabilistic health risk assessment. The mean exposure level while riding was 516, 180 and 113 μg/m3 for PM10, PM2.5 and PM1, respectively. The exposure values showed significant diurnal variation. The order of diurnal variation was night > morning > afternoon. The multiple path particle dosimetry model results showed that the total deposition fraction of PM10 in the respiratory tract was 2.5 and 3.7 times higher than PM2.5 and PM1, respectively. The total VOC concentrations detected at the traffic intersections, on the road while riding and in the front office of restaurants were 172, 50 and 16 μg/m3, respectively. Benzene was observed to be the major contributor to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk. Results from sensitivity analysis indicated that the concentration of pollutants in the traffic junctions was the major parameter influencing the risk.

Food Dish Pedictor using YOLOv4

Abstract: In recent years, the demand for automated food recognition systems has increased due to the large variety of dishes available especially in Indian cuisine and also due to the growing awareness of the importance of a healthy diet. Identifying multiple food items from an image is a challenging task, especially when it comes to Indian cuisine, which is known for its diverse range of dishes and ingredients. The goal of this paper is to create a food dish predictor for five common Indian cuisines utilizing the cutting-edge object detection algorithm - YOLOv4. The five foods selected for this study are Aloo paratha, Biryani, Poha, Khichdi, and Chapati. A dataset is created by taking the images of selected dishes from various platforms such as social media and forming classes, which was then used to train the YOLOv4 model. To accurately train the machine to identify the dishes, the dataset was manually labeled. The YOLOv4-based food dish predictor that has been proposed could be put to use in a number of applications. The predictor can assure proper order fulfillment in food delivery services by recognising food plates in real-time from customer-provided photos. The predictor's capacity to automatically extract dish information can assist menu recognition software, saving restaurant personnel time and allowing for rapid menu revisions. Meal recommendation engines can utilize the predictor to provide personalized meal choices based on user preferences and previous eating experiences. Overall, the YOLOv4-based food dish predictor helps multiple sectors of the food business to increase productivity, consumer experiences, and decision-making capacities. The findings of this investigation show how well YOLOv4 can recognise and identify food items, particularly Indian food items.

Indian food image classification with transfer learning

Indian food image classification with transfer learning

Development and Deployment of Rust Resistant Wheat Varieties in India – Insights from Technology Transfer and Policy Response from the National Seed Production Program

Wheat, a major Indian staple food crop, is largely prone to rust infection. Inter alia, wheat producers have been advocated to adopt the recently released high yielding rust resistant wheat varieties to counter the significant yield losses. In the milieu, we investigated the technological trend in seed indent followed by policy options for the transfer of technology at farmers’ fields. Research findings indicated that the wheat producers adopted old varieties. In the recent past five years, the trend hasn’t witnessed any drastic change despite several rust-resistant varieties having been tested and released for various agro-climatic conditions. Recent varieties take about 5 years to reach their peak adoption since release which is attributed to the innovative transfer of technologies. At the producers’ level, technologies (varieties) have been upscaled through frontline demonstrations, especially in cluster mode. Demonstrations resulted in an average yield gain of 699 kg/ha for innovative rust-resistant technology (HD 2967) compared to its check. Despite the increasing demand and promotion of the latest technologies, the need and availability of ‘producer choice variety’ is persisting and has to be addressed. Innovations like ‘community seed banks’, strengthening public-private partnerships, contract farming (quadpartite model), participatory demonstrations, and blockchain-enabled ‘seed tracker’ will strengthen the transfer of technology system in Indian wheat production.