Going by the BSNL regional telecom training centre (RTTC) campus at Kaimanam, near Karamana? Then drop in at a stall on the premises and take your pick from an array of products such as sandwiches, paneer burgers, paneer cutlets, nankhatais, lollies, and so on. Healthy probiotic products under the brand name ‘Winyo’ and icecreams under the brand ‘Icee’ too can be had here. What sets this outlet apart is that it is helmed by a bunch of final-year B.Tech. students of the College of Dairy Science and Technology under the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.
The four-year-old institution, located on the BSNL RTTC campus, provides its students entrepreneurship training as part of the curriculum designed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
The training is given through a two-month experiential learning programme, Vaibhavam, that focusses on students putting into practice the theoretical knowledge gained over the first three years of the course. The entrepreneurship training is expected to improve the students’ prospects and streamline their skill sets such as problem-solving, willingness to take risk, initiative, flexibility, adaptability and so on.
Under Vaibhavam
The university, as part of Vaibhavam (value addition in benefit of health through valorous avatars of milk), provides the students seed money for developing and marketing food products. Stress is given to innovation and health benefits. The aim is to expose students to the requirements of starting a food business venture, right from procuring raw materials to profit making.
The students, under the guidance of assistant professors Beena R.L. and Rejeesh R., focus on making probiotic products such as yoghurt, lassi, frozen yoghurt, snacks, sweets, and desserts. Tapping into the health benefits of probiotic foods, the college aims at making them popular among consumers and create a market for them.
The college obtains probiotic DVS cultures (freeze dried bacterial cultures that can be directly added to the milk) of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium from the Netherlands to make the probiotic products.
Value-added products
During the incubation period when the yoghurt gets made, the students make value-added products such as peda, kesari, payasam, milk pudding, gulab jamun, nellikka (amla) sambharam and so on, say students Akshay P. Kumar and Tony Philip. Each day, the students make a treat and market it under ‘Today’s special’ at the counter.
The probiotic yoghurt is available in mango, banana, and jackfruit flavours. They say nankhatai is their fastest moving product.
Besides those living on the RTTC campus, the students’ clientele include nearby bakeries and major cinemas.
The sales counter is open during office hours.