Discussions were held on packaging of pears

The Food Industry Business Incubation Centre (FIBIC), Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), recently provided training and incubation facilities for processing and packaging of pear into preserve (murabba). The training was held at Algon Kalan village in Tarn Taran district.

Dr Poonam A Sachdev, Principal Food Technologist (Vegetable)-cum-Head, Department of Food Science and Technology, PAU, highlighted the importance of value addition of pear, which is a perishable crop and processing is required to reduce its wastage and fetch remunerative prices to the growers.

“Pear is largely grown in Punjab and considered to be a good source of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. Because of its low flavour profile, the fruit is not utilised for processing except for blending of juices,” she observed.

Keeping in view the importance of processing, specialised training was organised where the processing of pear into preserve was conducted, she informed.