Cooking oil now in spray form: New technology from Andhra-based Kuking Sprays

Vijayawada-based B R Kuking Sprays Pvt. Ltd is planning to roll out commercially, the first-of-its-kind cooking oil spray technology, called Aerosol technology, under the guidance of International Crops Research Institute (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, by February 2012. This technology would now offer cooking oil in a sprayform.

"It took about four years to develop Aerosol technology which involved formulation, processing and developing the machine. The project cost was Rs 4 crore," Rami Reddy, managing director, B R Kuking Sprays, informed FnB News in a chat over telephone.

Elaborating on the mechanism of cooking oil spray, he mentioned that usually the food regulations did not have an Aerosol concept included and hence had to deal with regulatory affairs.

It was a challenge developing this technology as it worked on pressurising the oil with gas concept in order to bring the oil in a spray form. "We had to modify the product to fit into the Indian standards and regulation," he said.

Highlighting the benefits of cooking oil spray, Reddy said that it would help spread uniformly on the cooking pans and be beneficial for the health of the consumers, as it would reduce the viscosity of the oil thus leading to a reduction in the consumption of oil by 10-15 times against the regular oil.

"We have started a pilot plant in Pamarru, 40 km from Vijayawada, and are planning to set up a commercial plant that has a capacity to make 5,000 cans (250 ml for Rs 150 ) per day," said Reddy. The technology is semi-automated and can be easily handled by the labour, he informed.

The company would also look into the export of such new technologies in future, particularly to east-European and east-Asian countries in the coming year. Also, he mentioned that the company was in close talks with some of the top five Indian players in the edible oil market for technology licensing and custom manufacturing.

However, not many companies were keen to experiment in the cooking oil segment as it posed a stiff competition in the market. "The company now would tap the health sector," he said and confirmed that the company would also look into expanding the business to set up a bigger plant.

For this, the company had already sought the assistance of the ministry of science and technology and some venture capital funds.

Reddy said that the industry professionals could avail the technology in just four months' time and claimed that this type of technology was a new concept to India and Asia as even developed countries like United States imported this technology.

Reddy said that the company received a positive nod from the apex bodies like Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for their innovative technology.

It was was particularly designed for common cooking oils such as groundnut and sunflower in south India covering states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala as these oils were mostly used here.