Ideal Caterers, a Kochi-based outdoor catering company, has ventured into ready-to-eat food products with technological support of Central Institute of Fisheries Technology.

A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed between the newly formed business incubation support for entrepreneurs of the CIFT and Ideal Caterers to market products under the brand ‘Freedom Kitchen’.

T.K. Srinivasagopal, director, CIFT, said this is the first time that the institute ventured into a novel concept to promote and develop entrepreneurship in the food sector to extend technological support and for certification in order to instil confidence among consumers.

Ravishankar, principal scientist, CIFT, said the ready-to-eat food segment is one of the most promising sectors and it is projected to reach Rs 2,900 crore by 2015.

Hisham Kabir, managing director, Ideal Caterers, said the decision to enter the ready-to-eat food segment was backed by the company’s quarter-century-old experience in catering services.

Some of the products that have been successfully tested at CIFT labs include Amritsari Fish Curry and Rice, Thai Rice and Curry, spaghetti bolognaise and kappa with Kerala fish curry, kothu parota with chicken etc. All these products have a shelf life of one year under recommended storage conditions, he said.

The advanced technological support extended by the CIFT includes blast freezing, retorting, canning, and all possible extension of increasing shelf life of food items besides conducting extensive research on new food technologies, he said.

There are also plans to get into ready-to-eat instant meals, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, curries and ready to cook curry powders, he added.

> sajeevkumar.v@thehindu.co.in

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