Mother Dairy's Safal launches frozen jackfruit

Mother Dairy Fruits and Vegetables Pvt has launched frozen jackfruit under its Safal brand for consumers in Delhi and NCR region in a 300-gram packet priced at Rs 40 with a shelf-life of one year.
According to a PTI report: The other frozen vegetables being sold are peas, corn and mixed entities, besides frozen snacks and dehydrated onions and tomato puree, at 420-odd Safal booths in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar.
“The frozen jackfruit is introduced for the first time in the country. It is pre-cut vegetable, takes away the hassle of peeling and removing of latex and saves cooking time,” Business Head, Mother Dairy’s Safal, Pradipta Kumar Sahoo was quoted by PTI as saying.
The frozen jackfruit will be sold in a 300-gram packet at Rs 40, he said, adding that it is priced reasonably as high hygienic and safety standards are adhered to while processing.
The new product will be available at 350-400 Safal booths as well as general and modern retail stores in Delhi-NCR, he said.
The jackfruit, high in fibre and other vitamins, will be sourced from Jharkhand — which is one of the top 10 growers in the country — and processed up to 100 tonnes this year at its Ranchi unit for sale in Delhi-NCR, he said.
“For pan-India sale, the processing will be done up to 1,000 tonnes, which will happen gradually,” he was further quoted by PTI as saying.
Speaking about the product, Mother Dairy Chief Research and Development officer T S R Murali said the jackfruit was often discarded from the food basket due to its size, hassle of cutting and latex.
“We have tried to address these issues and launched the frozen jackfruit. The shelf life of this product is 12 months,” he told PTI, expressing confidence of receiving good response from consumers.
On other products, especially tomato puree and onion flakes launched recently, he said there is more demand in view of rise in prices of raw tomato and onions.
It may be noted that India produces 2 million tonnes of jackfruit annually and major growing states are Kerala, Odisha and Jharkhand, among others.
Mother Dairy Fruits and Vegetables procures 2.5 lakh tonnes of fruits and vegetables annually from 16 states with a 10,000-farmer base. Besides Ranchi, it has processing plants in Delhi, Bengaluru and Ramgarh.
It also gets processing done at 12 third-party plants in states like Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. The company also exports fruits and vegetables to more than 35 countries.