REPFED Technology for RTE foods

Breakfast foods vary widely form place to place, but often include cereal, grains or
legumes in most of the preparations. The most popular South Indian breakfast foods
include idli, dosa, upma, vada and variety of rice preparations. These foods at
commercial level are generally prepared in restaurants and at street food joints. The shelf
life of the products is generally less than 24 hours and these products get spoiled due to
microbial growth after the preparation. At present idli, dosa and a few other products are
frozen and stored at -22º C for extending the shelf life. Consumers are not happy with
the quality of frozen idli and dosa and also from commercial point of view, this
technology is highly energy intensive.

Idli, Dosa and Paddu are some of the traditional food items commonly used in Indian
homes. The packaged ready to eat form of these products provide hygienic products of
standard and uniform quality with good shelf life. Idli and Dosa were earlier used in
southern region but now they find acceptability in the day to-day menu all over India.
Ready to eat foods provide the housewives novelty, convenience, reducing the drudgery
of preparing at home. Nutritionally also these products are rich and wholesome.

Refrigerated processed foods with extended durability (REPFED) process and Cook-chill
processes fall under hurdle technology. In REPFED foods receive a minimal heat
processing or precooking of the product temperature below 100ºC for a desired lethality
in a controlled heating equipment. The processed products are rapidly cooled to the
refrigerated temperature and stored below 10º C as per the requirement of the shelf life.
Refrigeration here is a key preservation measure which helps in extending the shelf life.
The mild heat treatment inactivates the yeast, molds and vegetative cells of bacteria and
the spores survive. The germination process of bacterial spores are extended due to low
temperature storage. Today a variety of foods such as meat, sea food, egg, vegetable
salad, fresh pasta, pasta sauces, soups and complete meals are being processed world over
using REPFED technology. Idli, dosa and paddu are low acid products whose pH are
>4.5 and also their water activities are >0.93. Conventionally, these products have to be
sterilized (116º-121º C) to make the product shelf stable. Even though these sterilized
products are microbiologically safer, they are unacceptable to consumers due to their
poor organoleptic properties. This has led to adoption of REPFED technology, where the
product is not shelf stable and needs low temperature storage for the extension of the
shelf life of these products.