New Delhi, Feb. 29: Indian defence scientists have developed a technology to package rotis designed to stay edible for 15 days and are hoping the civilian market will consume it with their version of a dal with a shelf life of 12 months.

The Defence Food Research Laboratory (DRFL), Mysore, has just test-marketed the dal and roti packets in Bangalore and Delhi, and is hoping to launch them for civilian use under a joint project with a social enterprise group called Basic and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

“Chapatis normally get spoiled within 24 to 36 hours, depending on storage conditions due to microbial spoilage. Our technology extends their shelf life to 15 days,” said A.S. Bawa, director of the DFRL.

A technology called cold shock dehydration, patented by the DFRL, allows the dal to be reconstituted within six to eight minutes, with a shelf life of more than 12 months at room temperature, he said.

The pilot project between DFRL, Basic and Ficci has developed the ready-to-eat rotis with two variants of dal — palak dal and masala channa, the DRDO has said.

At the launch yesterday, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, asked the collaborators to explore the possibility of “integrating the project with the midday meal scheme and integrated child development scheme to serve the nutritional requirements of children between three and six years old.

The DFRL has long pursued food packaging technologies that have led to ready-to-eat meals routinely used for defence personnel.“Through Basic, we expect the benefits of these products to reach millions in the civilian sector,” said DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat.

Basic hopes to develop a model of creating small production units run mainly by women that could adopt the food packaging technologies developed by DFRL and churn out ready-to-eat items for the civilian market.